N. Korea confirms rocket-launcher test

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea confirmed today that it conducted its third test-firing of a new “super-large” multiple-rocket launcher that it says expands its ability to destroy enemy targets in surprise attacks, as it continues to pressure Washington over a standstill in nuclear negotiations.

Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency described the tests a day after the South Korean and Japanese militaries said they detected two projectiles launched from an area near the North Korean capital traveling more than 200 miles cross-country before landing in waters off the North’s eastern coast.

On Thursday, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff urged the North to “immediately stop actions that do not help efforts to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula.”

Japan’s Defense Ministry said the projectiles did not reach Japan’s territorial waters or its exclusive economic zone. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe condemned the launches “as an act that threatens the peace and safety of Japan and the region.”

Experts say the North could continue to ramp up weapons demonstrations ahead of an end-of-year deadline set by leader Kim Jong Un for the U.S. to offer mutually acceptable terms to salvage a fragile diplomacy strained by disagreements over exchanging sanctions relief and disarmament steps.

Thursday’s launches followed statements of displeasure by top North Korean officials over the slow pace of nuclear negotiations with the United States and demands that President Donald Trump’s administration ease crippling sanctions and pressure on their country.

The Korean Central News Agency said Kim expressed satisfaction over what North Korea described as a successful test of its new rocket artillery system, but it wasn’t clear whether the leader observed the launches on-site. The North previously tested the system in August and September. The latest test verified the “perfection” of the system’s continuous firing ability that reportedly allows it to “totally destroy” enemy targets with “super power,” the agency said.

Last month, the North testfired an underwater-launched ballistic missile for the first time in three years. The North has also tested new short-range ballistic missiles and rocket artillery systems in recent months in what experts saw as an effort to use the standstill in talks to advance its military capabilities while increasing its bargaining power.

Negotiations have faltered after the collapse of a February summit between Kim and Trump in Hanoi, Vietnam, where the U.S. rejected North Korean demands for broad sanctions relief in exchange for piecemeal progress toward partially surrendering its nuclear capabilities.

The North responded with intensified testing activity while Kim said he would “wait with patience until the end of the year for the United States to come up with a courageous decision.”

Washington and Pyongyang resumed working-level discussion in Sweden last month, but the meeting broke down in acrimony with the North Koreans calling the talks “sickening” and accusing the Americans of maintaining an “old stance and attitude.”

On Sunday, senior North Korean official Kim Yong Chol said his country was running out of patience with the United States over what it described as unilateral disarmament demands and warned that a close personal relationship between the leaders alone would not be enough to prevent nuclear diplomacy from derailing. He said the Trump administration would be “seriously mistaken” if it ignores Kim Jong Un’s end-of-year deadline.