Alwaght- North Korea has test-fired a new type of “tactical guided weapon,” the country's state media reported. This is the first public test since the collapse of the second round of top-level negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang.
North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) announced in a report on Thursday that the test-firing had been personally overseen by the country's leader Kim Jong-un from an observation post.
The KCNA said the North Korean leader “climbed the observation post to observe the new tactical guided weapons firing test plan and gave directions.”
The KCNA said the North Korean leader “climbed the observation post to observe the new tactical guided weapons firing test plan and gave directions.”
The report added that the test, which was “conducted by various firing method[s] on... different targets, had perfectly proved the design specifications of this tactical guided weapon which is evaluated to be superior due to its special flight guidance method and powerful warheads.”
The report did not specify the kind of the weapon tested or its potential range. There was also no indication that the test involved a nuclear detonation or an intercontinental ballistic missile since “tactical” implies a short-range weapon rather than a long-range armament, according to the KCNA.
Separately, the North Korean Foreign Ministry accused US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo of playing down the significance of comments by leader Kim Jong Un, who said last week that Washington has until the end of the year to offer mutually acceptable terms for an agreement to salvage the high-stakes nuclear diplomacy. Both the demand for Pompeo’s removal from the talks and the weapon test point to North Korea’s displeasure with the deadlocked negotiations.
Trump and Kim met for the first time at a historic summit in Singapore in June last year, when they agreed to “work toward” denuclearization. US-North Korean diplomacy has effectively stopped, however, with the US’s position of no compromise since the second summit, in Hanoi. Meanwhile, Trump has said he is considering a potential third summit with Kim. The North’s leader, however, says he has no interest in a third summit if it is going to be a repeat of Hanoi.
