North Korean leader Kim Jong-un supervised the test-firing on Sunday of a “new weapon” in the launch of two projectiles the previous day and expressed “great satisfaction” with the result.
On Saturday, North Korea fired two projectiles believed to be short-range ballistic missiles from its eastern coast into the East Sea, the fifth such launch since July 25.
They flew around 400 km at a maximum altitude of 48 km, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The launch came shortly after US President Donald Trump said he had received another “very beautiful” letter from Kim.
After receiving a report on a new weapon system, Kim “gave an instruction to test it immediately” and “looked around the new weapon at the launching site”, Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency said in its report on Sunday.
It did not give further details on what type of weapon it was, only to state that the analysis of the test-fire result “proved that the new weapon system’s advantageous and powerful demand of the design was perfectly met”.
The new weapon was “developed to suit the terrain condition” and comes with a character “different from the existing weapon systems”, KCNA added.
Earlier this month, North Korea had threatened to carry out more weapons after its fourth pair of projectiles in less than two weeks following the start of joint exercises between the US and the South.
Last week, US President Donald Trump had underlined his personal support for North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, even as he admitted that Pyongyang’s recent missile tests “may” violate the UN resolution.
North Korea had earlier warned that the upcoming US-South Korea joint military exercises could affect the resumption of the talks.