Washington sources reported that North Korea announced that it test fired a new tactical guided weapon on Wednesday that increased the "combat power" of the country's military. Meanwhile the state run Korean Central News Agency said the country's leader, Kim Jong Un, oversaw the firing of the weapon by the Academy of Defense Science.
Furthermore it was not immediately clear what type of weapon was fired, but the move would mark the first weapons test since President Donald Trump's summit with Kim in Hanoi in February and a sign of public defiance by Kim following a stalemate in the high-stakes denuclearization talks. Reportedly Kim said the "the development of the weapon system serves as an event of very weighty significance in increasing the combat power of the People's Army."
Moreover analysts said the description of a tactical weapon appeared to rule out a long range weapon. Victor Cha, a North Korea expert at Georgetown University. "It shows that North Korea is going on, business as usual, after the failed Hanoi summit. They are giving the U.S. till the end of this year to make a deal, but in the meantime, they will bolster their capabilities, untethered from any agreement."
