SEOUL: North Korea fired "several cruise missiles" into the Yellow Sea between China and the Korean peninsula on Saturday, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
Pyongyang's latest provocation comes as concern grows over the whereabouts and wellbeing of a US soldier who made an unauthorised dash into North Korean territory earlier this week, with the reclusive regime so far remaining tight-lipped about the incident.
Saturday's launches are just the latest in a series by Pyongyang, and come as Seoul and Washington ramp up defence cooperation, with relations between the two Koreas nearing an all-time low.
The cruise missile launches took place around 4 am on Saturday.
"South Korean and US intelligence authorities were analysing the launches while monitoring signs of additional activities," the JCS said.
North Korea had fired two ballistic missiles into the sea off its opposite coast toward Japan just three days earlier.
North Korean defence minister Kang Sun Nam said the Ohio-class submarine's deployment might have fallen "under the conditions of the use of nuclear weapons specified in the DPRK law on the nuclear force policy", using an acronym for the North's official name.
North Korea last year adopted a sweeping nuclear law setting out an array of scenarios in which it could use its nukes, including pre-emptive strikes if threatened.
South Korea's defence ministry reiterated that any use of nuclear weapons by the North would prompt an "immediate and decisive response" resulting in the Kim regime's demise.
Saturday's launches came just days after US soldier Travis King was believed to have been taken into North Korean custody after he broke away from a tour group visiting the Demilitarized Zone.
Meanwhile, the Group of Seven nations, the European Union and three other countries have urged China to expel oil tankers from its waters that appear to be taking fuel to North Korea in defiance of UN sanctions, according to a letter seen on Friday.
"We have concerns regarding the continuing presence of multiple oil tankers... that use your territorial waters in Sansha Bay as refuge to facilitate their trade of sanctioned petroleum products to the DPRK," read the letter, which was signed by the countries' ambassadors and addressed to China's UN envoy Zhang Jun.
In the letter, the ambassadors told Zhang they "would like to provide your government with additional information and satellite imagery" supporting the allegations, while calling on China to deny the vessels "all services, and ultimately expel them from your waters". — AFP
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