North Korea Fires Cruise Missiles Toward Sea of Japan - Report
00:52 GMT 22.07.2023 (Updated: 13:37 GMT 18.09.2023)
© AP Photo / Lee Jin-manA TV screen shows a recent image released by Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, March 24, 2023. North Korea said Friday its cruise missile launches this week were part of nuclear attack simulations that also involved a detonation by a purported underwater drone as leader Kim Jong Un vowed to make his rivals "plunge into despair."
© AP Photo / Lee Jin-man
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MOSCOW (Sputnik) - North Korea launched several cruise missiles toward the Sea of Japan early Saturday, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) confirmed.
Reports have detailed that the intelligence agencies of South Korea and the United States were analyzing the launches, which occurred around 4:00 a.m. local time (19:00 GMT on Friday), to determine the type of missiles and other details.
The latest launch came three days after Pyongyang launched two short-range ballistic missiles toward the Sea of Japan.
North Korea carried out its previous missile launch on July 12. The new-type Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile is believed to have flown over 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) at a maximum altitude of over 6,000 kilometers on a lofted trajectory.
On Friday, the South Korean Defense Ministry threatened Pyongyang with "the end of the North Korean regime" in the event of a nuclear attack against Seoul after the North said that the deployment of US nuclear assets in the region could be a sufficient reason to use nuclear arms.
On Thursday, North Korean Defense Minister Kang Sun Nam criticized the deployment of a US nuclear ballistic missile submarine in South Korea earlier in the week, saying that Pyongyang could potentially consider it a sufficient basis for the use of nuclear arms for self-defense.
The US' USS Kentucky, an Ohio-class nuclear ballistic missile submarine, made port in Busan on Tuesday, in the southeast of South Korea.
On the same day, the meeting of the two countries' Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG) took place, during which South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and his US counterpart, Joe Biden, reaffirmed their commitment to deterring North Korea.