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North Korea fires multiple cruise missiles after failed warship launch

Published: 22 May. 2025, 15:05

This file photo, released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on Jan. 31, 2024, shows the North staging a drill to launch the Hwasal-2 strategic cruise missile off its west coast the previous day. [YONHAP]

North Korea fired multiple cruise missiles toward the East Sea on Thursday, South Korea's military said, a day after a "serious" accident occurred during Pyongyang's launch of a new warship.

The launches took place as North Korea said earlier in the day that parts of a new naval destroyer were "crushed" during its launch ceremony Wednesday, with the North's leader Kim Jong-un calling it a "criminal act" that could not be tolerated.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the North's missile launches at about 9 a.m. from the Sondok area in South Hamgyong Province, without providing further details, such as the number of missiles fired.

The JCS said it is closely monitoring North Korean activities so that Pyongyang does not "misjudge" the current security situation, adding that it is maintaining the capabilities to "overwhelmingly" respond to any provocation.

It marked the North's second missile launch this month after it fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea on May 8.

The South's military usually does not immediately announce North Korean cruise missile launches, compared with ballistic ones, which are banned under U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Yonhap