SEOUL, Aug 25, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un again
supervised the test-firing of a “newly developed” weapon, state media
reported Sunday — further muddying the waters for any resumption of
denuclearisation talks.
South Korea’s military had said the North launched what appeared to be two
short-range ballistic missiles on Saturday, but the North’s state media said
a “super-large multiple rocket launcher” had been tested.
It was the latest in a series of launches the nuclear-armed North has
conducted 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.
“The test-fire proved that all the tactical and technological
specifications of the system correctly reached the preset indexes,” the
report said.
Kim also said 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.
Kim has reportedly observed at least two other tests of “new” weapons this
month alone, though the nature and technical specifications of those weapons
remain a mystery.
Saturday’s test prompted South Korea’s presidential Blue House to convene
a National Security Council meeting.
– Gridlocked talks –
“NSC members agreed to continue diplomatic efforts with the international
community to bring the North back to the negotiation table with the US to
achieve the goal of complete denuclearisation in the Korean peninsula,” the
government said in a statement.
But launching those talks anytime soon looks to be a fading possibility.
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 denuclearisation in the
North and sanctions relief.
Trump and Kim agreed to kick start working-level talks during an impromptu
meeting at the Demilitarised Zone dividing North and South Korea on June 30,
but negotiations did not materialise.
Last week, Stephen Biegun, the US special envoy for North Korea, said
during a visit to Seoul that Washington was “prepared to engage” as soon as
it hears from Pyongyang.
But then on Friday, North Korea lashed out at US Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo, calling him a “diehard toxin” and saying it was “sceptical” whether
it can negotiate with him.
Pyongyang also vowed to remain the United States’s “biggest ‘threat'” and
said the annual US-South Korea joint military drills had “complicated”
prospects for nuclear talks.
Washington stations nearly 30,000 troops in the South.
“We are ready for both dialogue and stand-off,” North Korea’s foreign
minister Ri Yong Ho said in a statement.