Seoul says North Korea fired another round of cruise missiles

North Korea has fired another round of cruise missiles, according to Seoul's military, extending a week-long flurry of tests that Pyongyang has said include a new generation of weapons.

South Korea's military "detected several unknown cruise missiles launched into the West Sea of North Korea around 07:00 (2200 GMT)" on Tuesday, Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

South Korean and US intelligence agencies "are conducting a detailed analysis", the JCS said. "Our military is cooperating closely with the US while strengthening surveillance and vigilance, and is closely monitoring North Korea's activities," it added.

Unlike their ballistic counterparts, the testing of cruise missiles is not banned under current UN sanctions on Pyongyang.

Recent months have seen a sharp deterioration in ties between the two Koreas, with both sides jettisoning key tension-reducing agreements, ramping up frontier security, and conducting live-fire drills along the border.

Pyongyang has accelerated weapons testing in the new year, including tests of what it called an "underwater nuclear weapon system" and a solid-fuelled hypersonic ballistic missile.

'Principal enemy'

In December, Seoul's spy agency issued a statement forecasting that Pyongyang would carry out military and cyber provocations in 2024, targeting election campaigns in the United States and South Korea.

North Korean leader Kim late last year instructed his aides to "come up with measures to cause a big stir in South Korea early next year," according to the statement by Seoul's spy agency.

In recent weeks, Kim has declared the South his country's "principal enemy," jettisoned agencies dedicated to reunification and outreach, and threatened war over "even 0.001 mm" of territorial infringement.

He also said Pyongyang would not recognise the two countries' de facto maritime border, the Northern Limit Line, and called for constitutional changes allowing the North to "occupy" Seoul in war, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said.

"North Korea seems to indirectly support former US President Donald Trump by emphasising the shortcomings of South Korea and (US President Joe Biden's administration) policy towards North Korea by increasing tensions on the Korean Peninsula," Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies, said.

Pyongyang's latest launch comes after South Korea conducted a 10-day special forces infiltration drill off the country's east coast, "in light of serious security situations" with the North, which ended on January 25.