SEOUL, Jan 25, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - North Korea fired several cruise missiles
towards the Yellow Sea on Wednesday, Seoul's military said, the latest in a
series of tension-raising moves by the nuclear-armed state.

Hours later, North Korea appeared to confirm the firing, saying it had
carried out its first test of a new generation of strategic cruise missiles
it is developing, the Pulhwasal-3-31.

Pyongyang has accelerated weapons testing in the new year, including tests of
what it called an "underwater nuclear weapon system" and a solid-fuelled
hypersonic ballistic missile.

"Our military detected several cruise missiles launched by North Korea
towards the Yellow Sea at around 7:00 am today," the South Korean Joint
Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

Unlike their ballistic counterparts, the testing of cruise missiles is not
banned under current UN sanctions against Pyongyang.

Cruise missiles tend to be jet-propelled and fly at a lower altitude than
more sophisticated ballistic missiles, making them harder to detect and
intercept.

North Korea insisted Thursday the test the previous day was "a process of
constant updating of the weapon system and a regular and obligatory
activity," the state news agency KCNA said. It did not specify how many
missiles were fired.

"The test-fire had no impact on the security of neighboring countries and has
nothing to do with the regional situation," the agency said.

The latest launch comes as South Korea is conducting a 10-day special forces
infiltration drill off its east coast, "in light of serious security
situations" with the North, that runs until Thursday, according to the
South's navy.

"We will achieve our mission to infiltrate deep into the enemy's territory
and neutralize them completely under any circumstances," the drill's
commander said in a statement.

- 'Principal' enemy -

Last week, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un declared the South his country's
"principal enemy", jettisoned agencies dedicated to reunification and
outreach and threatened war over "even 0.001 mm" of territorial infringement.

Hours after the missiles were fired by Pyongyang Wednesday, Seoul's defence
minister said North Korea would face the end of its regime if it ever waged
war.

"If the Kim Jong Un regime makes the worst choice to start a war, you must
become the invisible force that protects South Korea and... eliminate the
enemy's leadership in the shortest possible time and end their regime," Shin
Won-sik said.

Shin made the remarks during his visit to an air force base operating the
South's advanced stealth fighter jets.

Recent months have seen a sharp deterioration in ties between the two Koreas,
with both sides jettisoning key tension-reducing agreements, ramping up
frontier security, and conducting live-fire drills along the border.

The North Korean leader Kim also said Pyongyang would not recognise the two
countries' de facto maritime border, the Northern Limit Line, and called for
constitutional changes allowing the North to "occupy" Seoul in war, the
Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

- 'Overwhelming response' -

In Seoul, President Yoon Suk Yeol told his cabinet that should the nuclear-
armed North carry out a provocation, South Korea would hit back with a
response "multiple times stronger", pointing to his military's "overwhelming
response capabilities".

At Pyongyang's year-end policy meetings, Kim threatened a nuclear attack on
the South and called for a build-up of his country's military arsenal ahead
of armed conflict he warned could "break out any time".

Earlier this month, the North launched a solid-fuel hypersonic missile, just
days after Pyongyang staged live-fire exercises near the country's tense
maritime border with South Korea, which prompted counter-exercises and
evacuation orders for some border islands belonging to the South.

Kim also successfully put a spy satellite into orbit late last year, after
receiving what Seoul said was Russian help, in exchange for arms transfers
for Moscow's war in Ukraine.