Pyongyang’s latest provocation was just a few days ago. North Korea launched cruise missiles on Wednesday towards the Yellow Sea, west of the Korean peninsula, claiming that they were a new generation of strategic cruise missiles. The country led by Kim Jong-un started again this Sunday, January 28. “Our military detected several unidentified cruise missiles fired near the waters (near the city) of Sinpo in North Korea at 8 a.m. Sunday (11 p.m. Saturday PST), the state said. South Korean joint major in a statement. He said the launch is being analyzed by South Korean and US intelligence services, adding “to closely monitor North Korea’s other movements and activities.”
Tests of cruise missiles, which fly in the atmosphere, do not fall under the sanctions imposed by the UN on North Korea, unlike ballistic missiles, whose trajectory is mainly in space. Thursday, the day after the firing of cruise missiles, the number of which Pyongyang did not specify, the official KCNA news agency indicated that this test was part of “a process of constant updating of the weapons system and (a) regular and obligatory activity”.
“The test firing had no impact on the security of neighboring countries and has nothing to do with the regional situation,” she assured. Tensions between Pyongyang and Seoul have worsened significantly in recent months. The two enemy countries renounced agreements concluded in 2018 to prevent armed incidents, strengthened military assets on the border and carried out live ammunition artillery exercises near each other’s territory.
“Main enemy”
The North Korean leader declared in January that the South was his country’s “main enemy.” He disbanded government agencies dedicated to reunification and contacts with the South, and threatened to declare war if his neighbor encroached on his territory “even by 0.001 mm.” At the end of December, Kim Jong Un ordered the acceleration of military preparations for a “war” that could “be launched at any time”. He denounced a “persistent and uncontrollable crisis situation”, according to him initiated by Seoul and Washington with their joint military exercises in the region.
The tone also rose a notch in the South, where conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol warned that Seoul would respond “several times stronger” in the event of provocation, highlighting the “overwhelming response capabilities” of its army . Seoul and Washington have repeatedly warned that any attack by Pyongyang would inevitably lead to the destruction of its regime. In recent months, North Korea has increased its testing of weapons banned by the UN.
In early January, it launched a solid-fueled hypersonic missile and fired live ammunition artillery near the maritime border with the South, triggering shelter orders on several South Korean islands close to the North Korean coasts. Seoul responded with counter-exercises in the same region, on the west coast of the peninsula. North Korea also managed to put a spy satellite into orbit at the end of 2023 after having received, according to Seoul, technological assistance from Russia, in exchange for deliveries of weapons for the war in Ukraine.