North Korea fires cruise missiles, stays mum on US soldier who crossed into country

By KIM TONG-HYUNG
Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s military says North Korea has fired several cruise missiles toward its western sea. Saturday’s firing was the North’s second launch event this week apparently in protest of the docking of a nuclear-armed U.S. submarine in South Korea. While adding to its barrage of missile launches in recent months, North Korea remained publicly silent for a fifth day on the fate of an American soldier who bolted into the North across the heavily armed Korean border this week. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff says Saturday’s launches were detected beginning around 4 a.m. but did not immediately confirm how many missiles were fired or how far they flew. It says the U.S. and South Korean militaries are closely analyzing the launches.