North Korea test-fires new type of 'tactical guided weapon'

Ellen Manning
Updated

North Korea has test-fired a new type of "tactical guided weapon", it has announced.

Kim Jong Un observed the weapon being fired on Wednesday by the Academy of Defence Science, state-run Korean Central News Agency said.

He is 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 is North Korea’s first such test in nearly six months, but it is not clear exactly what kind of weapon has been tested.

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. North Korea has test-fired a "new-type tactical guided weapon," its state media announced Thursday, in a possible attempt to register displeasure with currently deadlocked nuclear talks with the United States without causing those coveted negotiations to collapse. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Kim Jong Un reportedly watched the weapon being tested (Picture: AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Tests of banned mid or long-range ballistic missiles could jeopardise talks with the US, which are currently deadlocked and have reportedly seen North Korea demand that secretary of state Mike Pompeo is removed from negotiations.

At a summit with US President Donald Trump in June 2018, Kim Jong Un agreed to denuclearise, but a second summit between the two leaders earlier this year came to an abrupt end after they failed to reach an agreement.

READ MORE

Fund to rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral reaches one billion euro mark

Last week Kim Jong Un said that Washington had until the end of the year to offer mutually acceptable terms for an agreement amid concerns that North Korea could turn its back on negotiations.

Mr Trump said last month that he "would be very disappointed if I saw testing".

Talks in Vietnam between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un broke down after they failed to reach an agreement on sanctions (Picture: Reuters)
Talks in Vietnam between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un broke down after they failed to reach an agreement on sanctions (Picture: Reuters)

In February, a lunch and signing ceremony were scrapped after talks in Hanoi in Vietnam ended without a deal.

After the failure to reach an agreement over sanctions, Donald Trump said ‘sometimes you have to walk’.

The US President said: “Basically, they wanted the sanctions lifted in their entirety and we couldn’t do that. They were willing to de-nuke a large portion of the areas that we wanted, but we couldn’t give up all of the sanctions for that.

“So we continue to work and we’ll see, but we had to walk away from that particular suggestion. We had to walk away from that.”

He added: “We had to have more than that. We brought many points up that I think they were surprised we knew, but we had to do more than just the one level, because if we did the one level and gave up all that leverage that has taken a long time to build.”

Before the breakdown of talks, Mr Trump had called Kim Jong Un a ‘great leader’.

At a scheduled media appearance at the start of their meeting, he said: “Your country has tremendous economic potential. Unbelievable. Unlimited.’

I think you will have a tremendous future with your country and great leader. And I look forward to watching it happen and helping it happen. And we will help it happen.”