North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspects a constructions site of Yangdeok, in this undated photo released on October 31, 2018 by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). KCNA/via REUTERS/File Photo
November 15, 2018
SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea’s state media said on Friday that leader Kim Jong Un had inspected a site testing a “high-tech tactical weapon”, South Korean Yonhap news service reported, the first mention by state media of a new development in weapons in months.
North Korea’s Korea Central Broadcasting Station (KCBS) did not say exactly what kind of weapon Kim inspected, but noted that the test was successful, Yonhap said.
North Korea has not tested a nuclear weapon or ballistic missile since last year. In public Kim has focused almost entirely on visits to economic rather than military projects.
“The state-of-the art weapon that has been long developed under the leadership of our party’s dynamic leadership has a meaning of completely safeguarding our territory and significantly improving the combat power of our people’s army,” Yonhap cited KCBS as reporting.
This is Kim’s first field visit to a testing site since his unprecedented summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in June, when the two leaders agreed to work toward denuclearization and peace on the Korean peninsula, and to establish new relations between the United States and North Korea.
The agreement was short on specifics, and negotiations have made little headway since, however.
(Reporting by Joyce Lee; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)
