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North Korea Fires Cruise Missiles in Protest

North Korea has fired several cruise missiles towards the sea to the west of the Korean Peninsula, as a protest over the arrival of a nuclear-armed United States submarine at a South Korean port.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said on Saturday the launches were detected beginning at about 4 am local time (19:00 Friday GMT).

The JCS stated, "Our military has bolstered surveillance and vigilance while closely cooperating with the United States and maintaining a firm readiness posture," according to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency.

Tensions Rise Amid Missile Launches and Defense Measures:

On Wednesday, North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles from an area near its capital, Pyongyang, flying about 550 km (341 miles) before landing in waters east of the Korean Peninsula.

The flight distance of those missiles roughly matched the distance between Pyongyang and the South Korean port city of Busan, where the nuclear-armed submarine, the USS Kentucky, made the first visit by a US nuclear-armed submarine to South Korea since the 1980s.

The recent missile launches come as Seoul and Washington increase defense cooperation in response to growing tensions with North Korea.

This also includes joint US and South Korean military exercises involving advanced stealth jets and new rounds of nuclear contingency planning meetings.

North Korea's Veiled Threat and Defensive Response Measures:

North Korea’s defense minister, Kang Sun-nam, issued a veiled threat on Thursday, suggesting that the docking of the USS Kentucky in South Korea could be grounds for a nuclear attack by the North.

Kang Sun-nam stated, "The Ohio-class submarine’s deployment may 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 North Korea’s official name.

In response to the perceived threat, South Korea’s defense ministry described the deployment of the USS Kentucky and the nuclear contingency planning meetings between Washington and Seoul as “defensive response measures” to counter the North Korean threat.

The defense ministry also asserted that any use of nuclear weapons by North Korea would prompt an “immediate and decisive response” resulting in the “end” of Kim Jong Un’s regime.

US Soldier in North Korean Custody:

Amidst the missile launches and escalating tensions, a US soldier is believed to be in North Korean custody.

Private Second Class Travis King broke away from a tour group visiting the Demilitarized Zone and is now in North Korean custody.

The US has expressed concern about how Private Second Class Travis King would be treated, and as of Thursday, Pyongyang had yet to respond to inquiries about the soldier.

King was due to return to the US to face military discipline after serving jail time in South Korea for assault.

(Courtesy: Al-Jazeera)