Highlight
- It comes as the country celebrated its biggest state anniversary without a military parade
- North Korea may soon take a provocative step like a nuclear explosive test
- The country wants to expand its nuclear arsenal and increase pressure on its rivals
North Korea said on Sunday that it has successfully tested a newly developed tactical guided weapon, the latest in the country’s largest-ever state anniversary launches without an expected military parade, which it usually uses to use provocative weapons systems. To unveil. ,
The latest test activity comes amid concerns that North Korea may soon conduct a major provocation like a nuclear explosive test in an effort to expand the country’s nuclear arsenal and increase pressure on its rivals amid stalled diplomacy.
The official Korean Central News Agency said leader Kim Jong Un observed the launch, which it said would boost the effective operation of the country’s strategic nuclear forces and the firepower of its long-range artillery corps.
The dispatch suggested that the weapon tested was capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, but KCNA did not elaborate. It also did not say when and where the launch took place.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement on Sunday that it had detected two projectile launches on Saturday evening from the north’s eastern coastal city of Hmung.
It said the projectile flew about 110 kilometers (68 mi) at an apogee of 25 kilometers (16 mi) and a maximum speed of Mach 4. South Korean and US intelligence officials are analyzing additional details of the launch, the statement said. It said South Korean officials held an emergency meeting separately to discuss the launches.
North Korea has started the year with a series of weapons tests, including the first flight test of an intercontinental ballistic missile since 2017.
South Korean and US officials said Pyongyang could soon launch additional provocations such as another ICBM test, a rocket launch to put a spy satellite into orbit, or even a nuclear test explosion Which will be the seventh of its kind.
South Korea’s military said it had received indications that North Korea was rebuilding tunnels at the nuclear test ground, which was partially destroyed in 2018 a few weeks before entering now-defunct nuclear talks with the United States. was given.
Sunday’s KCNA dispatch cited Kim as presenting unspecified actions to boost North Korea’s nuclear deterrence and military capability, which he called gradual progress in efforts to bolster the country’s deterrence power.
On Friday, Kim took part in a massive civilian parade in Pyongyang that marked the 110th birth anniversary of his state-founding grandfather, Kim II Sung. The country appeared to have passed its biggest holiday without an expected military parade to showcase its new weapon systems.
Read also | North Korea celebrates important anniversary, but no word on army parade