North Korea fired off several cruise missiles early Saturday morning. 

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected an undetermined number of launches from North Korea toward the Yellow Sea at around four a.m. 

South Korean and the U.S. authorities are in the process of analyzing the details of the projectiles.

The JCS added the military is shoring up surveillance and vigilance while maintaining full readiness in close coordination with the U.S.

The launches come three days after North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea on Wednesday.

It also follows North Korea’s warning of a possible nuclear retaliation following the arrival of a nuclear-capable U.S. submarine in Busan and the inaugural session of Seoul and Washington’s Nuclear Consultative Group earlier in the week. 

Pending confirmation from the Kim Jong-un regime, it would be the fourth launch of cruise missiles from the North. The previous third launch took place from the Hamheung area of South Hamgyong Province toward the East Sea in March this year. 

North Korea claimed at the time that it had fitted a dummy nuclear warhead on the "Hwasal-1" and "Hwasal-2"-type cruise missiles for a tactical strike mission.

Pyongyang’s defense minister Kang Sun-nam on Thursday slammed what he claimed was the first deployment of strategic nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula in 40 years with the port call by the Ohio-class USS Kentucky in Busan on Tuesday. 

The minister claimed that this, together with the inaugural meeting of the NCG between South Korea and the U.S., meets the criteria set by the North's nuclear policy authorizing a nuclear offensive should the regime come under nuclear attack or assess that one is imminent.

[Photo : YONHAP News]