North Korea said Thursday that it had test-fired a new type of 'tactical guided weapon,' its first such test in nearly half a year, and a possible sign of its displeasure with deadlocked nuclear talks with the United States.
A man watches a TV news program reporting about North Korea's test-fire of a 'new-type tactical guided weapon,' with a footage of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, April 18, 2019. Last Updated Thursday, April 18, 2019 12:13AM EDT
The North's leader, Kim Jong Un, observed the unspecified weapon being fired Wednesday by the Academy of Defence Science, the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency said. Kim was reported to have said "the development of the weapon system serves as an event of very weighty significance in increasing the combat power of the People's Army."
The test came amid media reports in South Korean and Japan that Kim plans to visit Vladivostok next week for a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Japan's Fuji Television Network on Wednesday showed Kim's de facto chief of staff, Kim Chang Son, visiting an area near Vladivostok's train station. Ahead of Kim Jong Un's two summits with Trump, Kim Chang Son visited Singapore and Vietnam in advance and handled logistical preparations.
The analyst said the test could also be intended as a message to the North Korean people and military of a commitment to maintaining a strong level of defence even as it continues talks with Washington over nukes. This is the first known time Kim has observed the testing of a newly developed weapon system since last November, when North Korean media said he watched the successful test of an unspecified "newly developed ultramodern tactical weapon." Some observers have been expecting North Korea to orchestrate "low-level provocations," like artillery or short-range missile tests, to register its anger over the way nuclear negotiations were going.
The analyst in Seoul, Kim Dong-yub, who is a former South Korean military official, said it wasn't yet clear whether the North conducted an advanced test of the same weapon Kim Jong Un observed in November or tested something different.
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