Military & Defense

North Korea claims to have test fired new tactical guided weapon

North Korea Kim Jong Un missile
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. KCNA/ via REUTERS
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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un "supervised" the test firing of a new tactical guided weapon, according to the country's propaganda outlet on Wednesday.

It is unclear what type of weapon it was, but the regime claimed the test served as an "event of very weighty significance in increasing the combat power."

North Korea claimed the weapon has a guiding system and was capable of being outfitted with "a powerful warhead."

The test comes months after the summit between Kim and President Donald Trump in Vietnam ended with no tangible results. Last week, Kim said he was willing to meet Trump for the third time later this year, but tempered expectations by saying it would be "difficult to get such a good opportunity."

North Korea has long argued that the United State's "maximum pressure" sanctions policy was detrimental to diplomacy.

"If it keeps thinking that way, it will never be able to move the DPRK even a knuckle, nor gain any interests no matter how many times it may sit for talks with the DPRK," Kim said, according to North Korea's propaganda agency.

North Korea made similar statements on an undisclosed weapon system in November, when Kim was said to have supervised a test of a "newly developed ultramodern tactical weapon."

Experts theorized at the time that the purported weapon was not nuclear in nature. Instead of a long-range missile with the capability to strike the US, South Korean experts suggested the weapon could have been a missile, artillery, anti-air weapons, or a drone, The Associated Press reported.

INSIDER reached out to the Pentagon for more information and will update as necessary.

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David Choi was a former Insider senior news reporter based in California, covering foreign affairs and politics. He profiled Democratic presidential candidates in the 2020 election, interviewed pardoned war criminals, and covered the Trump administration. Choi previously served in the US Army and California Army National Guard. He graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, where he majored in political science.