Pyongyang responds to joint South Korean and US military exercises with another missile test. In the morning, North Korea's military fired four cruise missiles into the sea - according to their own statements, around 2,000 kilometers away.
Amid ongoing tensions, North Korea has carried out its third missile test in days. According to North Korean state media, four Hwasal-2 cruise missiles were fired into the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan. The rockets were fired from the area of Kim Chaek city in North Hamgyong province and flew 2,000 kilometers before hitting their target "precisely," KCNA news agency said.
The agency did not specify exactly what the goal was. The exercise once again "clearly demonstrated" that the North Korean armed forces had the capability of "deadly nuclear counterattacks against enemy forces," the KCNA wrote. Cruise missiles can be equipped with nuclear warheads.
North Korea had already tested two short-range ballistic missiles on Monday and an ICBM last Saturday, fueling tensions in the region. North Korea described the test on Monday as a reaction to a joint military exercise by the United States and South Korea.
The military tensions on the Korean peninsula have recently increased drastically. The communist leadership in Pyongyang has repeatedly threatened a military escalation in the region and recently announced that it would expand its own nuclear arsenal "exponentially".
Washington and Seoul have therefore been warning for months that North Korea could carry out a nuclear weapons test in the near future. It would be the first test of this kind since 2017. North Korea has carried out six nuclear weapons tests since 2006.
