North Korea tests new weapons system

The “new type of tactical guided missile” is of “great importance for drastically improving the firepower of artillery units at the front and increasing the efficiency of the use of tactical nuclear weapons,” reported the state news agency KCNA. According to this, ruler Kim Jong Un was present at the test. It was initially unclear when exactly it took place.

The United States had recently warned of a possible North Korean nuclear weapons test around the national holiday on April 15. This time the 110th birthday of the republic’s founder Kim Il Sung was celebrated on the day.

Nuclear weapons test feared

This year, North Korea has already tested an unusually large number of increasingly powerful missiles. South Korea and the USA fear that the deadlocked negotiations in the nuclear dispute could be reason enough for Pyongyang to carry out a new nuclear test.

The last North Korean nuclear weapons test took place in 2017. Recently, the leadership in Pyongyang threatened South Korea with the use of nuclear weapons in the event of a pre-emptive attack.

gri/fw (afp, rtr)