Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have risen as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un accelerates weapons development.
North Korea has fired “several” cruise missiles from its western coast into the sea, according to South Korea.
The Seoul Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the missiles were fired on Wednesday morning.
“Our military detected several cruise missiles launched by North Korea towards the Yellow Sea around 7:00 am today. [22:00 GMT on Tuesday]”the JCS said in a statement.
“The detailed specifications are being closely analyzed by South Korean and US intelligence authorities.”
Pyongyang, which is under strict United Nations sanctions for its nuclear weapons program, has continued to conduct weapons tests this year, including a solid-fuel hypersonic ballistic missile and the test of a suspected nuclear-capable underwater attack drone.
Cruise missile tests are not prohibited under UN sanctions, but the JCS said it was monitoring future North Korean activities. Cruise missiles tend to be jet-powered and fly at lower altitudes than more sophisticated ballistic missiles, but analysts say they could pose a risk to South Korea and Japan because they are harder to detect by radar.
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have risen in recent months as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un continues to accelerate his weapons development and makes provocative threats of nuclear conflict with the United States and its allies in the region.
Meanwhile, Japan, South Korea and the United States have been expanding their combined military exercises – which Kim describes as invasion rehearsals – and fine-tuning their deterrence strategies based on US nuclear-capable assets.
The latest launches came as the South Korean Navy's special warfare unit was participating in training on the east coast near the border with North Korea.
The 10-day training, which ends Thursday, is designed to strengthen operational readiness, the JCS said, following North Korea's recent military activities.
Leader Kim Jong Un has also abandoned any goal of unification with South Korea, which he has now designated as a “main enemy.”
Kim could also have ordered the demolition of a 30-meter (100-foot) tall Pyongyang monument that symbolized the goal of reconciliation with South Korea.
NK News, an online publication that monitors developments in the country, said satellite images taken on Tuesday showed that the Three Letters for National Reunification Monument, known informally as the Reunification Arch, was no longer there.
It depicts two women holding aloft an emblem of a united peninsula and was completed on a key Pyongyang highway in 2001. NK News said Kim had called it a “monster” during this month's meeting of the Supreme People's Assembly.
