North Korea launches more cruise missiles, says MND in Seoul

The Ministry of National Defense (MND) in Seoul told Janes on 26 January that North Korea had fired two ground-launched missiles a day earlier. The missile launches are yet to be confirmed by Pyongyang.

An official MND spokesperson said, “We detected the firing of two cruise missiles. It is assumed that North Korea fired the cruise missiles from a land area.” The spokesperson added that the MND is evaluating the launches for more detail.

The missiles reportedly landed in the sea off North Korea's east coast, but the MND did not confirm the exact location. “We cannot confirm at this point where the missiles landed,” the spokesperson said.

No other details were available at the time of publication.

In response to the new missile launches a US State Department spokesperson said the United States was assessing reports with South Korea and Japan.

Unlike rocket-propelled ballistic missiles – several new types of which North Korea has developed in recent years – jet-propelled cruise missiles are not banned under UN Security Council resolutions on the Northeast Asian country.

North Korea has periodically launched cruise missiles in the past, although their risk has been downplayed.

Following North Korea's launch of cruise missile launches in March 2021, US government officials said they were not overly concerned about the tests. They characterised the launches as “normal” military activity with the “threat falling on the low-end of the spectrum”.

Nonetheless, if confirmed by Pyongyang the new missile launches would be North Korea's fifth since the beginning of 2022.

On 17 January North Korea launched, what were assessed by Janes