North Korea has launched several ‘cruise missiles’ into the sea. This was reported by the South Korean news agency Yonhap. Cruise missiles have been launched into the Yellow Sea between China and the Korean peninsula. The Yonhap news agency quoted the South Korean General Staff as the source. The incident occurred around 4 in the morning, local time, three days after the previous launch of two other ballistic missiles, also at sea. It all came as a US soldier is believed to be in the custody of the North Korean regime after breaking away from a group of tourists visiting the demilitarized zone.
Another factor of jitters in Pyongyang is the presence of a nuclear submarine in the port of Busan in South Korea. USS Kentucky is the first visit by a US submarine in forty years. Soon after the USS Kentucky’s arrival, North Korea said that deploying US aircraft carriers, bombers or missile submarines to South Korea could meet the criteria for using nuclear weapons, state news agency KCNA said, citing the country’s defense minister Kang Sun Nam.