Pyongyang, April 18 (IANS) North Korea says it has test-fired a new type of “tactical guided weapon”.
A report, carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), gave few details but said the weapon came fitted with a “powerful warhead”, the BBC reported on Thursday.
This would be the first public weapons test since talks between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump ended without agreement.
North Korea made a similar claim last year in what observers saw as an attempt to apply pressure on the US.
Last week, Kim said Trump needed to have the “right attitude” for talks to continue after the summit between the two broke up in February.
According to KCNA, the test was overseen by Kim himself.
The weapon has a “peculiar mode of guiding flight”, KCNA reported, adding that the test was “conducted in various modes of firing at different targets”.
Kim said the development was “of very weighty significance in increasing the combat power of the People’s Army”.
No other details were given, including if it was a type of missile. But the word tactical implies that it is a short-range weapon rather than the long-range ballistic missiles seen as a threat to the US.
–IANS
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