South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) confirmed that North Korea's new missile launch took place at around 8 a.m. on January 28 (Korean time), but did not provide details as they were analyzing the matter, according to Yonhap News Agency.

"While strengthening surveillance and vigilance, our military has been closely coordinating with the US to watch for additional signs of North Korea's provocations," the JCS stressed in a message to reporters.

There is currently no information about North Korea's reaction to the JCS's statement.

If confirmed, the new missile launch would mark North Korea's second cruise missile launch this year after the country test-fired a strategic cruise missile, the Pulhwasal-3-31, into the Yellow Sea on January 24.

North Korea has tested the Pulhwasal-3-31 strategic cruise missile for the first time, in what it calls “regular and obligatory” activities aimed at developing powerful weapons systems, the KCNA news agency reported on January 25. The launch on January 24 posed no threat to the safety of neighboring countries and had nothing to do with regional security, it said.

The January 24 missile launch is believed to be the first time North Korea has launched such a missile since September 2023, when the country launched two long-range strategic cruise missiles carrying hypothetical nuclear warheads into the western sea.

North Korea is escalating its confrontation with the United States and its allies, but officials in Washington and Seoul say they see no signs that Pyongyang intends to take any immediate military action, according to Reuters.