The North Korean armed forces fired a pair of cruise missiles today morning from their coastal town of Onchon which is around 60km from the North Korean capital of Pyongyang.
The missiles were fired from the west coast of the country and landed in the yellow sea close to the coastline of South Korea.
This provocation by North Korea comes amid the preparation of the joint South Korean and American military drill named Ulichi Freedom Shield which is scheduled on the 22nd of August and is expected to end on the 1st of September.
The allies had kicked off a four-day preliminary live fire drill before the main exercises started.
It is still unclear which cruise missiles were fired and there is no clarity on the altitude or range of these missiles that were launched off the western coast of North Korea as Seoul’s authorities are still investigating the launches.
The South Korean President, also completed 100 days in office for South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol who made no mention of the launches as he held a press conference in Seoul.
President Yoon expressed willingness to provide the North Koreans with financial aid if they denuclearised and ended their weapons programme.
“Any dialogue between the leaders of the South and North, or negotiations between working-level officials, should not be a political show, but should contribute to establishing substantive peace on the Korean peninsula and in Northeast Asia,” he said.
Pyongyang has lately raised the tensions in the peninsula as it has carried out several ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) tests.
There have been several sanctions and restrictions imposed on Pyongyang over their weapons programmes, however, they do not have any restrictions on cruise missiles.
It is speculated that the Hermit Kingdom is to conduct a fresh nuclear test sometime this year.