National Review

South Korea said its northern neighbor launched cruise missiles and conducted training exercises with fighter jets on Tuesday — North Korea’s first use of cruise missiles since June 2017 and a significant military escalation in recent weeks.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that North Korea fired what were presumed to be cruise missiles from the eastern city of Munchon, which flew roughly 93 miles off the coast, and later launched fighter jets which unloaded an unspecified number of air-to-surface missiles towards the same waters.

While the show of force came on the eve of the 108th birthday of North Korea’s late founder, Kim Il Sung — the grandfather of current leader Kim Jong Un — military drills had previously been scaled back in the country due to the coronavirus outbreak. According to the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, North Korea possesses only two known cruise missiles, making the demonstration unusual.

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