Status: 04/17/2022 07:02 a.m
North Korea says it has successfully tested a new type of tactical guided missile. The state media reported that the development of this weapon system increases the efficiency of the use of “tactical nuclear weapons”.
North Korea says it has tested a new weapon system that will increase the effectiveness of its tactical nuclear weapons. 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. Kim gave a military research team “important instructions on how to further expand defense capabilities and nuclear combat troops,” KCNA reported. Photos released by Rodong Sinmun newspaper showed a grinning Kim applauding as he watched the weapon’s test firing.
Apparently activities at nuclear test sites
The general staff of the South Korean armed forces confirmed the test and initially spoke of two “projectiles” that North Korea fired towards the open sea on Saturday evening (local time). They flew regarding 110 kilometers. Experts suspected that these might be short-range ballistic missiles. UN resolutions ban North Korea from testing ballistic missiles of any range, which, depending on the design, can also carry a nuclear warhead.
The United States had recently warned of a possible North Korean nuclear weapons test around North Korea’s national day on April 15. Pyongyang has not tested any nuclear weapons since 2017. Most recently, however, ruler Kim had a whole series of missile tests carried out, and the military also fired an ICBM for the first time since 2017.
Satellite images also show signs of new activities in a tunnel at the nuclear test site Punggye-ri. North Korea recently threatened South Korea with the use of nuclear weapons in the event of a pre-emptive attack.
North Korea has tested nuclear weapons six times since 2006 and in 2017 announced the success of its most powerful test – a hydrogen bomb with an estimated yield of 250 kilotons. Experts assume that Pyongyang is now concentrating on making the warheads smaller so that they can be mounted on its ICBMs.
