New weapon tested by North Korea is for ground combat: South Korea
Kim jong-un
The new tactical guided weapon that North Korea claimed it had tested earlier this week is a ground combat missile system, a spokesperson for the South Korean Defense Ministry said on Friday.
The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Thursday that North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, had overseen a trial of a new tactical short-range weapon designed to be used in combat scenarios.
The move appeared to be a message to both the North Korean public and Washington after a summit with United States President Donald Trump in Hanoi ended without a deal on Pyongyang's nuclear disarmament.
The South Korean armed forces have determined that it is a "ground combat propulsed projectile system," the spokesperson told EFE.
The acting secretary of US Defence, Patrick Shanahan, had said on Thursday that the new weapon was not a "ballistic missile".
Analysts believe that the projectile flew over a short distance at low altitude, likely meaning it is a short-range guided missile similar to the Israeli Spike, which has a range of around 20 kilometres.
The use of such short-range missiles does not violate UN resolutions which have been placed on North Korea following repeated tests in 2017 of nuclear weapons, including intermediate-range or intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Wednesday’s test was the first time Kim had publicly supervised an arms trial since Nov. 2018, when state media reported that he attended evaluations of another tactical weapon (presumed to be an artillery system), for which no further details were provided.
The summit in Hanoi, which was the second meeting between the two leaders following the first one in Singapore in June 2018, failed to kickstart the talks after Trump and Kim could not reach a consensus on Pyongyang's denuclearisation.
The US president said he chose to "walk away" from a deal with Kim because the North Koreans "wanted sanctions lifted in their entirety," which Trump refused.
North Korea has said it wants guarantees of its security from Washington before committing to fully dismantling its nuclear program.
Since Hanoi, Pyongyang has mulled re-starting its missile and nuclear tests, although last week Kim suggested in a speech to parliament that he was willing to meet with Trump again.