N. Korea announces test of new generation of strategic cruise missiles

North Korea announced Thursday dawn that it had conducted the first test of a new generation of strategic cruise missiles developed by Pulhwasal-3-31, as part of what it called "a regular and obligatory activity" to develop and modernize weapons systems.The missile was launched Wednesday and did not affect the safety of neighboring countries and had nothing to do with regional security, according to the North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).The test-fire is a "process of constant updating of the weapon system and a regular and obligatory activity of the agency and its affiliated defense science institutes," the KCNA reported.The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff announced on Wednesday that North Korea launched several cruise missiles towards the Yellow Sea, in an operation that is the latest in a series of operations that escalate tensions on the Korean Peninsula.It marked the North's first known cruise missile launch since Sept. 2023, when the country launched two long-range strategic cruise missiles with mock nuclear warheads toward the Yellow Sea.The latest launch comes 10 days after Pyongyang test-fired a solid-fuel intermediate-range ballistic missile carrying a hypersonic warhead into the East Sea in its first missile launch in 2024.Tensions remain high along the inter-Korean border as buffer zones created under a 2018 inter-Korean military agreement became invalid following North Korea's conducting of live-fire drills near the western maritime border earlier this month.