North Korea fires several cruise missiles into the Yellow Sea

At a time when tensions between Seoul and Pyongyang are at their highest, North Korea fired several cruise missiles towards the Yellow Sea on Wednesday January 24, the South Korean army announced. “Our military detected several cruise missiles launched by North Korea towards the Yellow Sea”around 7 a.m. (11 p.m. in Paris Tuesday), the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

“Detailed specifications are closely analyzed by South Korean and US intelligence services”, he added. Cruise missile tests do not fall under United Nations (UN) sanctions on North Korea, unlike ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons.

These shots come as South Korea is conducting an infiltration exercise for its special forces off its east coast until Thursday, “in light of serious security concerns” with the North, according to the South Korean navy. “We will accomplish our mission to deeply infiltrate enemy territory and completely neutralize it, regardless of the circumstances”said the exercise commander in a statement.

Tensions between the two Koreas have sharply worsened in recent months. The two enemy countries renounced agreements concluded in 2018 to prevent armed incidents, strengthened military resources on the border and carried out live ammunition artillery exercises near each other’s territory.

War threats

Last week, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said South Korea was the “main enemy” from his country. He disbanded government agencies responsible for reunification and contacts with the South, and threatened to declare war if his neighbor encroached on his territory. “even if only by 0.001 mm”. He also called for constitutional changes allowing the North to” to occupy “ Seoul in the event of war, according to the official KCNA news agency.

At the end of December, Kim Jong-un ordered the acceleration of military preparations for a ” war “ can “be triggered at any time”. He denounced a “persistent and uncontrollable crisis situation”according to him initiated by Seoul and Washington by holding their joint military exercises in the region.

The tone also rose a notch in South Korea, where conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol warned that Seoul would retaliate “several times stronger” in case of provocation, highlighting the “overwhelming response capabilities” of his army.

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 evacuation orders on several South Korean islands close to the coast. North Koreans. Seoul responded with counter-exercises in the same region, on the west coast of the peninsula.

On Friday, Pyongyang then announced that it had tested a “underwater nuclear weapons system” in response to naval maneuvers carried out by South Korea, the United States and Japan in the waters south of the peninsula.

North Korea also managed to put a spy satellite into orbit at the end of 2023 after receiving, according to Seoul, technological assistance from Russia, in exchange for arms deliveries for the war in Ukraine.