Kim Jong-un oversees missile test that North Korea claims advances nuclear program
North Korea has test-fired a new weapons system, under the supervision of leader Kim Jong-un, that it claims will boost the efficiency of its tactical nuclear weapons, state media reported.
The “new-type tactical guided weapon ... is of great significance in drastically improving the firepower of the frontline long-range artillery units and enhancing the efficiency in the operation of tactical nukes,” the official Korean Central News Agency said early on Sunday, without specifying when the test took place. It said the test was successful.
South Korea’s military said on Sunday that North Korea had fired two projectiles off its east coast towards the sea on Saturday. The projectiles, launched from the Hamhung region at around 6pm flew 110km (68 miles) at a maximum altitude of 25km with maximum speed under Mach 4, South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said.
Photos carried by the Rodong Sinmun newspaper showed a grinning
Kim – surrounded by uniformed officials – applauding as he watched what it said was the test-firing of the weapon.
North Korean stated Kim gave a military research team “important instructions on further building up the defence capabilities and nuclear combat forces”.
On Friday, North Korea marked the birthday of North Korea’s founding leader, Kim’s grandfather Kim Il-sung, with a huge public procession, fireworks and synchronised dancing – but no military parade as many observers had predicted.
Analysts and South Korean and US officials also had thought a nuclear test was possible on the important anniversary.
The anniversary celebrations came three weeks after North Korea staged its largest intercontinental ballistic missile test ever – the first time Kim’s most powerful weapon had been fired at full range since 2017.
That test was the culmination of a record-breaking blitz of sanctions-busting launches this year and signalled an end to a self-imposed moratorium on long-range and nuclear tests.
Long-range and nuclear tests have been paused since Kim met then-US president Donald Trump for a bout of doomed diplomacy, which collapsed in 2019.
Officials and analysts say North Korea may carry out its seventh nuclear test in the coming weeks.
Satellite imagery has shown signs of new activity at a tunnel at the Punggye-ri nuclear testing site, which North Korea said was demolished in 2018 ahead of the first Trump-Kim summit.
North Korea has tested nuclear weapons six times since 2006 and touted the success of its last and most powerful one in 2017 – a hydrogen bomb with an estimated yield of 250 kilotons.
With a new nuclear test, experts say Pyongyang will seek to miniaturise nuclear warheads to mount on its intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).
South Korean officials have said Pyongyang could still stage a military parade or carry out a weapons test on or around 25 April, the anniversary of the founding of the Korean People’s Army.
That anniversary coincides with the joint military exercises between Seoul and Washington, which is due to start on Monday.
South Korea and the United States
regularly stage military exercises, but Pyongyang has long protested against
the drills as a rehearsal for war.