2024-02-02 06:04:26
North Korea fired several cruise missiles towards the Yellow Sea on Friday, February 2, according to the South Korean army, continuing its weapons tests at a time when the country claims to be intensifying its “preparations for war”.
“The military detected multiple unidentified cruise missiles around 11 a.m. [3 heures à Paris] »pulled out to sea off the peninsula’s west coast, said the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff, which said it was closely monitoring “any new sign of additional activity” in North Korea.
This is the third series of cruise missile launches by North Korea this week, amid escalating tensions between Seoul and Pyongyang. On Tuesday, North Korea test-fired what it described as a strategic cruise missile.
Two days earlier, leader Kim Jong-un personally oversaw a test of what Pyongyang claimed were two new-generation cruise missiles launched from a submarine.
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In January, North Korea had already announced that it had tested a “underwater nuclear weapons system” and a solid-fuel hypersonic ballistic missile, after a year 2023 marked by numerous weapons tests.
Tests of cruise missiles, which fly in the atmosphere, do not fall under UN sanctions on North Korea. And this unlike ballistic missiles, whose trajectory takes place essentially in space. Cruise missiles fly at a lower altitude than ballistic projectiles, making them more difficult to detect and intercept.
North Korea may be testing cruise missiles intended to be exported to Russia for use in the war against Ukraine, analysts say. South Korea and the United States maintain that despite UN sanctions, North Korea is sending weapons to Russia, possibly in exchange for technical assistance with its spy satellite program.
Growing tensions with Seoul
In addition, Kim Jong-un visited the Nampo shipyard, 65 kilometers southwest of Pyongyang, where he called for a reinforcement of the North Korean navy “to reliably defend the country’s maritime sovereignty and intensify war preparations”announced Friday KCNA, the official North Korean agency.
The North Korean leader recently named South Korea as the “main enemy”. He disbanded government agencies dedicated to reunification and contacts with Seoul, while threatening to declare war if his neighbor encroached on his territory. “even if only by 0.001 millimeter”.
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In recent weeks, the two enemy countries have renounced agreements concluded in 2018 to prevent armed incidents, they have strengthened their military presence on the border and carried out live artillery exercises near the territory of one and the other. Pyongyang regularly accuses South Korea and the United States of preparing an invasion of its territory.
Read also | A worrying verbal escalation between the leaders of North and South Korea
During his visit to Nampo, Kim Jong-un received information about a “new giant plan” decided by the single party on naval forces, according to KCNA, which provided no details on the content of the plan in question.
A nuclear-powered submarine was on North Korea’s list of strategic weapons at a major one-party congress in 2021, along with a hypersonic warhead, spy satellites and intercontinental ballistic missiles. solid fuel.
In 2023, North Korea launched what it called its first “tactical nuclear attack submarine”. The South Korean military said at the time that the submersible did not appear operational, and analysts believed it was a modified version of a diesel-electric submarine designed in the 1950s. , questioning his abilities.
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