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Kim Jong-Un's Korea test fires strategic missiles amid regional tensions

This picture taken on January 24, 2024 shows North Korea conducting its first test firing of a new strategic cruise missile "Pulhwasal-3-31", at an undisclosed location in North Korea. — AFP

South Korean media reported Thursday that North Korea has test-fired its new strategic cruise missiles "Pulhwasal-3-31", as Pyongyang claims the launch does not pose any threat to the safety of its neighbours.

The KCNA news agency did not provide any information about the flight, however, it only said the launches are part of "regular and obligatory" activities to develop powerful weapons systems.

A day earlier, the South Korean military said that it detected the launches of several cruise missiles by Pyongyang toward the Yellow Sea at 7am, marking the first test of cruise missile launches since September 2023. 

"While strengthening our monitoring and vigilance, our military has been closely coordinating with the United States to monitor additional signs of North Korea's provocations," the JCS said in a statement quoted by Yonhap Wednesday.

The launch is the first of its kind since September 2023, when Pyongyang fired two long-range strategic cruise missiles with mock nuclear warheads toward the same area.

The multiple launches come days after Kim Jong-un's forces fired a solid-fuel intermediate-range ballistic missile carrying a hypersonic warhead into the East Sea, marking the first of this year.

North Korean media KCNA reported last week that Pyongyang had tested an “underwater nuclear weapon system” in response to joint naval exercises by the US, South Korea, and Japan.

The drills were "seriously threatening the security" of the North, so in response, Pyongyang conducted an important test of its underwater nuclear weapon system Haeil-5-23 under development in the East Sea of Korea," the KCNA reported.

Early last year, Pyongyang carried out multiple tests of a purported underwater nuclear attack drone claiming that it could unleash a radioactive tsunami.

Recent months have seen a sharp deterioration in long-tense 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.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last week 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.