North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversees short-range ballistic missile launches, in this photo issued by the state-run Korean Central News Agency on May 9, 2025. (KCNA)
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea launched multiple cruise missiles over the weekend, another demonstration since Dec. 24 of the authoritarian regime’s missile capabilities, according to the South Korean Ministry of National Defense on Monday.
The South Korean and U.S. militaries were “closely monitoring” signs of a North Korean missile launch at 8 a.m. Sunday from the Sunan area, according to a ministry text message to reporters the following day.
U.S. and South Korean intelligence agencies are analyzing the launch details, according to the ministry.
The official North Korean Central News Agency said long-range, strategic cruise missiles were launched into the West Sea or Yellow Sea as part of a readiness drill, according to a post on its website Monday.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un oversaw the test, according to KCNA.
“The launching drill was aimed at checking the counter-offensive response posture and combat capability of long-range missile sub-units, making missile soldiers well versed in maneuver and procedures of fulfilling firing missions and inspecting the reliability of the relevant strategic weapon system,” the report stated.
The North Korean military previously launched what South Korean authorities believed to be surface-to-air missiles into the East Sea around 5 p.m. Dec. 24, according to a text message from a National Defense Ministry spokesman the following day.
Several missiles were launched from Sonduk, South Hamgyong province, according to the message.
The Dec. 24 missiles were not a North Korean version of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system employed by the United States, as some suggested, according to South Korean Joints Chiefs of Staff spokesman Col. Lee Sung-jun.
“We assess the missiles to be surface-to-air missiles,” Lee said at a Dec. 26 press briefing. “THAAD is a system designed to intercept ballistic missiles, and we believe it does not meet that threshold yet.
