North Korea fired several cruise missiles on Wednesday, the South Korean army, which is currently conducting large-scale joint exercises with the United States, said.
“The South Korean military has detected several cruise missiles launched by North Korea in the East Sea,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, referring to the Korean name of the Sea of Japan.
“Detailed features are being analyzed by South Korean and US intelligence agencies,” the statement added.
After a record year of weapons testing and mounting nuclear threats from Pyongyang, Seoul and Washington stepped up their defense cooperation and on March 13 launched their largest joint military exercises in five years.
Dubbed the “Freedom Shield,” these maneuvers are scheduled to end on Thursday.
South Korea’s military said it will “conduct planned joint exercises under Freedom Shield and maintain a firm joint defense posture.”
North Korea sees all of these drills as rehearsals for an invasion of its territory and has repeatedly warned it will respond to them “overwhelmingly.”
Wednesday’s launch comes about a week after Pyongyang tested its most powerful missile, the Hwasong-17, its second ICBM test in 2023.
Northern state media described the ICBM launch as a response to ongoing “frenzied” exercises between the United States and South Korea.
In 2022, Pyongyang called its status as a nuclear power “irreversible”. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un recently called for an exponential increase in its arms production, including tactical nuclear weapons.
In early March, he also ordered his army to intensify military maneuvers in the face of “real war.”