SEOUL — North Korea fired two cruise
missiles Wednesday,
Seoul’s defense ministry said, ending a month-long lull in
Pyongyang’s record-breaking spate of weapons tests this year.
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The isolated nation has not tested a cruise missile
— which are not banned under UN sanctions on Pyongyang — since January, the
Yonhap News Agency reported.
The last time North Korea conducted a weapons test
was July 10, when they fired what appeared to be multiple rocket launchers.
“Early this morning, we detected that North Korea
fired two cruise missiles into the West Sea from Onchon, South Pyongan
province,” a ministry official told AFP, using an alternative name for the
Yellow Sea.
“The US and South Korean military authorities are
analysing detailed specifications such as flight distance.”
North Korea has conducted a blitz of
sanctions-busting tests this year, including firing an intercontinental
ballistic missile at full range for the first time since 2017.
Washington and Seoul officials have also warned that
the isolated regime is preparing to carry out what would be its seventh nuclear
test.
The cruise missile launch came as South Korea’s
President Yoon Suk-yeol marked 100 days in office Wednesday, telling reporters
at a press conference that he did not support regime change by force in North
Korea.
Yoon, who took office vowing to get tough on
Pyongyang, earlier this week laid out details of his “audacious plan” to offer
massive aid to Pyongyang — if Kim Jong Un will give up his nuclear weapons.
Analysts say the chances of Pyongyang accepting such
an offer are vanishingly slim, as North Korea, which invests a vast chunk of
its GDP in weapons programs, has long made clear it will not barter its
missiles away.
Joint
drills
Pyongyang’s latest test also
comes after South Korean and American military troops kicked off preliminary
drills this week ahead of the start of their annual combined Ulchi Freedom
Shield exercise.
The two militaries have been holding talks in Seoul,
and issued a joint statement saying they had discussed North Korea, “particularly
the increased volume and scale of DPRK missile tests over the course of the
last year”, they said, using the country’s official name.
“With this in mind, and considering the evolving
threat posed by the DPRK, both leaders committed to expanding the scope and
scale of combined military exercises and training.”
This will start “with Ulchi Freedom Shield next week
... to bolster combined readiness,” they added.
For the last few years such joint military exercises
had been scaled back due to COVID-19 and during a bout of failed diplomacy with
the North.
But Yoon has vowed to ramp up the drills, which
infuriate Pyongyang as it views them as a rehearsal for invasion.
Last week, North Korea threatened “deadly”
retaliation against the South, which it blames for a recent outbreak of
COVID-19 in the isolated nuclear-armed country.
Kim’s regime —
which continued to conduct missile tests as it battled an outbreak of Omicron —
recently declared a “shining victory” over the disease and eased virus
restrictions.
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