World

N. Korea's Kim oversaw test of 'multiple rocket launcher'

August 25, 2019
This picture taken on Saturday and released on Sunday by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (C) celebrating the test-firing of a 'newly developed super-large multiple rocket launcher' at an undisclosed location. -AFP
This picture taken on Saturday and released on Sunday by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (C) celebrating the test-firing of a 'newly developed super-large multiple rocket launcher' at an undisclosed location. -AFP

SEOUL - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised the test-firing of a "super-large multiple rocket launcher", state media reported Sunday -- further muddying the waters for any resumption of denuclearization talks.

Pyongyang fired what appeared to be two short-range ballistic missiles on Saturday, Seoul's military said, the latest in a series of launches in recent weeks in protest at US-South Korean joint military exercises, which wrapped up nearly a week ago.

Kim said the "newly developed" system was a "great weapon," and expressed "high appreciation" for the scientists who had designed and built it, the country's official Korean Central News Agency said.

Kim added the country needed to keep stepping up weapons development "for resolutely frustrating the ever-mounting military threats and pressure offensive of the hostile forces," KCNA noted.

Photos carried by the official Rodong Sinmun newspaper showed a broadly grinning Kim standing in front of an eight-wheeled launcher and rockets shooting out from the large canisters mounted on the vehicle.

"The test-fire proved that all the tactical and technological specifications of the system correctly reached the preset indexes," the report said.

Saturday's launch appeared to be "the fourth new missile system that North Korea has debuted since the Hanoi holdup", tweeted Vipin Narang, an associate professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

"This is Kim's own maximum pressure campaign," he added.

Negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington have been gridlocked since a second summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump in Hanoi in February collapsed without an agreement over the extent of denuclearization in the North and sanctions relief.

The pair agreed to restart working-level dialogue during an impromptu meeting at the Demilitarized Zone dividing North and South Korea in June, but those talks have yet to begin. -AFP


August 25, 2019
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