North Korea appears to have fired 2 cruise missiles

North Korea appears to have fired two cruise missiles Tuesday morning toward waters off its east coast, according to a South Korean military official

North Korea appears to have fired two cruise missiles Tuesday morning toward waters off its east coast, according to a South Korean military official, ramping up a barrage of tests this month that have rattled regional security.

South Korea was closely monitoring the situation, the official said, without offering further details. The launch comes as North Korea this month conducted its biggest series of ballistic missile launches since August 2019 and warned the US it might end its almost five-year halt on tests of nuclear devices and long-range missiles to deliver them.

The Defense Ministry in Seoul hasn’t yet issued a statement. While the United Nations Security Council has barred North Korea from ballistic missile testing, Pyongyang faces no such restrictions on tests of cruise missiles. For that reason, South Korea often doesn’t issue formal statements on such launches.

Unlike ballistic missiles that fly at high speeds in an arched trajectory and aren’t powered on descent, cruise missiles are powered throughout flight and are generally more manoeuvrable. 

In September, North Korea said it had successfully test-fired a new model of long-range cruise missile that flew for about 1,500 kilometres (930 miles). That range would be sufficient to strike most of Japan, and North Korea’s official media said it was a “strategic weapon” -- a designation used to indicate that its part of leader Kim Jong Un’s nuclear arsenal.