North Korea fires multiple cruise missiles after failed warship launch

Seoul: North Korea fired multiple cruise missiles toward the East Sea on Thursday, South Korea’s military said, a day after a “serious” accident occurred during Pyongyang’s launch of a new warship.

The launches took place as North Korea said earlier in the day that parts of a new naval destroyer were “crushed” during its launch ceremony Wednesday, with the North’s leader Kim Jong-un calling it a “criminal act” that could not be tolerated.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the North’s missile launches at about 9 a.m. from the Sondok area in South Hamgyong Province, without providing further details, such as the number of missiles fired.

The military believes the missiles may have been fired from a maritime platform and are conducting a detailed analysis with US intelligence authorities.

In February last year, North Korea test-fired a new surface-to-sea missile, named Padasuri-6. Authorities are looking into the possibility that the latest launch may have involved a variant of the anti-ship missile.

The JCS said it is closely monitoring North Korean activities so that Pyongyang does not “misjudge” the current security situation, adding that it is maintaining the capabilities to “overwhelmingly” respond to any provocation.

North Korea has staged a series of military demonstrations this month, including the launch of multiple short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea on May 8.

The South’s military usually does not immediately announce North Korean cruise missile launches, compared with ballistic ones, which are banned under UN Security Council resolutions, Yonhap news agency reported.

Earlier on May 17, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un oversaw anti-air combat and air raid drills by an air force flight group this week, stressing the need for constant and stronger war preparations across all military units.

Kim gave the guidance during his visit on Thursday to the flight group under the Guards 1st Air Division of the Korean People’s Army, calling on “all the units of the entire army to bring about a radical turn in the preparations for war in constant war posture,” the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

The drills were aimed at familiarising flying corps as well as anti-air missile, radar, and electronic warfare subunits with the mission to detect, track, and destroy enemy cruise missiles and suicide drones, according to the KCNA.

The drills included a test of a new-type long-range precision glide-guided bomb and a target attack exercise, as well as a training program for destroying enemy drones with a helicopter, precision bombing of naval targets, and a demonstration flight of strategic reconnaissance drones and multipurpose drones, the KCNA said.

IANS