The Joint Chiefs of Staff of South Korea reported on Saturday that North Korea had launched "several cruise missiles" into the Yellow Sea between China and the Korean Peninsula.The military reported that the launches happened about 4 a.m. (1900 GMT), at a time when tensions between the two Koreas are at an all-time low.
According to the JCS, intelligence agencies in South Korea and the US were studying the launches while keeping an eye out for any indications of new operations.Just three days prior, North Korea launched two ballistic missiles towards Japan off the opposite shore.
The most recent of Pyongyang's series of nuclear tests occurred as Seoul and Washington increased defence cooperation in response to escalating tensions with the North.North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has urged accelerating the development of weapons, especially tactical nukes, as diplomacy between Pyongyang and Seoul has stalled.
Seoul and Washington have responded by conducting joint military exercises with cutting-edge stealth aircraft and US strategic weapons. Last week, an American nuclear-armed submarine made a port call in South Korea for the very first time in decades.
The Ohio-class submarine may have been deployed "under the conditions of the use of nuclear weapons specified in the DPRK law on the nuclear force policy," North Korea's defence minister Kang Sun Nam said on Thursday, abbreviating the country's full name.
An additional day later, the defence ministry of South Korea reaffirmed that any use of nuclear weapons by the North would result in an "immediate and decisive response" and the "end" of the Kim regime.The incident on Saturday also occurred when a US soldier who escaped from a tour group touring the Demilitarised Zone was reportedly held by North Korea.
According to the United States, it is "very concerned" about how Private Second Class Travis King would be treated in North Korea, and as of Thursday, Pyongyang had not responded to questions regarding the soldier.After serving a jail sentence in South Korea for assault, King was scheduled to return to the United States to face military punishment.
Image Source: Twitter
© Copyright 2023. All Rights Reserved Powered by Vygr Media.
