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North Korea announced on Sunday that it had successfully test-fired a newly developed tactical guided weapon, the latest in a string of launches that came just days after the country’s most important state anniversary passed without the usual military parade, which the country uses to unveil provocative weapons systems.
North Korea’s newest testing comes amid fears that the government would soon undertake a major provocation, such as a nuclear explosion test, in order to build up its nuclear arsenal and put pressure on its adversaries amid stalled dialogue.
The launch, according to the official Korean Central News Agency, was witnessed by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and will help the country’s tactical nuclear forces and long-range artillery corps to operate more effectively.
The report implied that the weapon being tested may potentially carry a nuclear warhead, but KCNA did not clarify. It also did not specify when or where the launch took place.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff of South Korea stated in a statement on Sunday that two missile launches were detected early Saturday evening from the North’s eastern coastline town of Hamhung.
According to the report, the missiles travelled roughly 110 kilometres (68 miles) at a maximum speed of Mach 4, with an apogee of 25 kilometres (16 miles). According to the statement, intelligence agencies in South Korea and the United States are looking into more facts about the launches. Officials from South Korea attended a separate emergency meeting to address the launches, according to the report.
North Korea has launched a series of weapons tests this year, including its first intercontinental ballistic missile flight test since 2017.
Pyongyang could soon undertake more provocations, such as another ICBM test, a rocket launch to put a spy satellite into orbit, or possibly a nuclear test explosion, according to South Korean and US sources.
The South Korean military has discovered clues that North Korea is reopening tunnels at a nuclear test site it partially demolished weeks before entering now-stalled nuclear talks with the US in 2018.
After hailing what he called successive advances in North Korea’s efforts to strengthen its war deterrence power, Kim presented unspecified duties to increase the country’s nuclear fighting and military capability, according to a Sunday KCNA dispatch.
Kim attended a big public procession in Pyongyang on Friday to commemorate his state’s founding grandfather, Kim II Sung, who was born 110 years ago. The country looked to have skipped its most important holiday without the customary military parade to show off its latest weaponry systems.
