WORLD Launch a ‘warning’

Kim says missile test aimed at Seoul war games, arms deals

A DAY after two North Korean missile launches, Pyongyang announced that its leader Kim Jong-un had supervised the test of a new type of tactical guided weapon.

The North said the test was a “solemn warning” to South Korea about its weapons and plans to hold military exercises with the US.

The message in the country’s state media quoted Mr Kim and was directed at “South Korean military warmongers”.

It comes as US and North Korean officials struggle to set up talks after a recent meeting on the Korean border between Mr Kim and US President Donald Trump seemed to provide a step forward in stalled nuclear negotiations.

Although the North had harsh words for South Korea, the statement stayed away from the kind of belligerent attacks on the US that have marked past announcements.

What it did make clear was that North Korea was infuriated by Seoul’s purchase of USmade hi-tech fighter jets and US-South Korean plans to hold military drills that the North says are rehearsals for an invasion and proof of the allies’ hostility to Pyongyang.

After watching the weapon launches, Mr Kim said they were “hard to intercept” because of the “low-altitude gliding and leaping flight orbit of the tactical guided missile”, according to the Korean Central News Agency.

South Korean officials said the weapons were a new type of short-range ballistic missile and that a detailed analysis was necessary to find out more.

But many civilian experts said the weapons were likely a North Korean version of the Russian-made Iskander – a short-range, nuclear-capable ballistic missile.

The launches were the first known weapons tests by North Korea in more than two months.

South Korea is set to buy 40 F-35 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin by 2021.