Seoul [South Korea]: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un oversaw the test-firing of a ‘new weapon’ in the launch of the two projectiles into the East Sea on Saturday, the country’s state media said on Sunday.
According to the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim received a report about a new weapon system following which he “gave an instruction to test it immediately” and “looked around the new weapon at the launching site,” South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported.
The state media did not give more details about the new type of weapon.
“The detailed analysis of the test-fire result proved that the new weapon system’s advantageous and powerful demand of the design was perfectly met,” the KCNA said adding that Kim “expressed great satisfaction” after supervising the launch.
Yesterday, North Korea launched two projectiles believed to be short-range ballistic missiles from the eastern coastal city of Hamhung, which was the fifth launch in just over two weeks.
The projectiles flew around 400 kilometres at a maximum altitude of 48 kilometres, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Coincidentally, the launch came after US President Donald Trump said he received another “very beautiful” letter from Kim.
Later, Trump took to his Twitter and said that Kim wanted to resume the denuclearisation talks after the joint military drills between the US and South Korea finished.
The US President also claimed that the North Korean leader issued a “small apology” for recently testing short-range missiles and said that launches would stop after the joint exercise ended.
The Trump administration has repeatedly downplayed the significance of the tests, pointing out that the missiles are short-ranged, and, therefore, were not in violation of the agreement between Trump and Kim.
Denuclearisation negotiations between the US and North Korea have been stalled since the second summit between Trump and Kim ended without reaching an agreement in February in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi.
At the end of June, Trump and Kim met at the inter-Korean border and the two leaders agreed to set up teams to resume working-level negotiations in weeks but to no avail.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday said he was hopeful that Washington and Pyongyang would get back to the negotiating table in the coming weeks.