North Korea fired several cruise missiles into the Yellow Sea on Friday, South Korea's military said, marking its fourth such missile launches this year.
The unidentified missiles were fired at around 11 a.m., South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said, following launches on Jan. 24 and earlier this week on Sunday and Tuesday, highlighting North Korea's increased pace in testing activity.
After Tuesday's launch, North Korea said it had fired a Hwasal-2 cruise missile into the Yellow Sea as part of a drill to improve its "strategic striking capability." The missile is believed to be capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.
Pyongyang tested its new Pulhwasal-3-31 strategic cruise missile in the previous rounds.
Also Friday, the South Korean military announced that its special operations exercise with the United States, which started on Jan. 22, ended in Pocheon near the inter-Korean military demarcation line amid heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
The military said the exercises included those for infiltrating into enemy territory and directing air strikes on targets.
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