SEOUL: North Korea fired another round of cruise missiles on Tuesday, Seoul's military said, extending a recent flurry of tests of weapons that analysts warned could be destined for Russia's war in Ukraine. This month, Pyongyang has conducted tests of what it called an "underwater nuclear weapon system," a solid-fueled hypersonic ballistic missile, and a new generation of strategic cruise missiles. Unlike their ballistic counterparts, the testing of cruise missiles is not banned under current United Nations sanctions on Pyongyang. "It is believed that North Korea has commenced mass production of cruise missiles ordered by Russia," Ahn Chan-il, a defector-turned-researcher who runs the World Institute for North Korea Studies, told Agence France-Presse (AFP). "During the Ukraine war, cruise missiles have played a significant role for Russia in targeting strategic facilities in Ukraine," he told AFP.
