North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspects testing of unspecified new 'tactical weapon'

SEOUL — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has inspected a “newly developed high-tech tactical” weapon, state media said on Friday, without specifying what kind of weapon was tested.

North Korea has suspended nuclear and missile tests as it endeavors to improve relations with the outside world, and there was no indication that this weapon was nuclear-related or a missile. 

Nevertheless, the announcement marked the first time Kim had made a high-profile visit to a military site since his summit with President Trump in Singapore in June, and the first announcement of any weapons test this year. 

It comes as Washington’s diplomatic efforts to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear program appear to have stalled.

Kim announced earlier this year that he is focused on economic rather than military development, and his inspection tours have reflected this, until now.

The official Korean Central News Agency said this week’s test, which took place at the Academy of National Defense Science, was successful and that Kim couldn’t suppress his “passionate joy.”

“This result today is a justification of the party’s policy focused on defense science and technology, another display of our rapidly growing defense capabilities to the whole region, and a groundbreaking change in strengthening our military’s combat capabilities,” Kim said.

Experts say North Korea has been growing increasingly frustrated with the United States over Washington’s insistence that sanctions would only be lifted at the end of a long process of denuclearization.

Earlier this month, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry warned that the country could return to the path of “pyongjin,” — the simultaneous development of nuclear weapons and economic development — if sanctions are not lifted.

State media has also expressed anger in recent days at the resumption of small-scale joint military exercises by the United States and South Korea.

Friday’s announcement was not framed in those terms, as some missile tests have been in the past, but Shin Beom-chul, research fellow at the Asan Institute of Policy Studies, said it still “reads as a strategic move with deliberate political intention.”

It was an example of the North’s “coercive diplomacy,” he said.

“Pyongyang is putting pressure on Seoul and Washington for sanctions relief that they've been asking for,” he said. “Kim Jong Un is signaling that if such demand is not accommodated, Pyongyang can switch back to pursuit of nuclear development, as put forward in state media outlets recently.”

But Lee Jong-seok, a former South Korean unification minister now working at the Sejong Institute, a think tank, said Kim, as commander of his country’s armed forces, can carry out regular inspections of the country’s military facilities.

“That inspection does not necessarily read as deviation from any regular guidance activity that a country’s military commander would do,” he said. “The prime targets of ongoing disarmament talks are ICBMs and nuclear arms. Overreacting to activities outside that realm does not help achieve the ultimate end goal of denuclearization.”

Kim said that the weapons system tested was one that his father, Kim Jong Il, was especially interested during his lifetime and led the development of personally.

The State Department declined to comment on the news.

South Korea’s Unification Ministry said it was the first publicly known field inspection of a weapons test by Kim since he observed the testing of the Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile in November of last year.

North Korean negotiator Kim Yong Chol canceled a planned meeting with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in New York last week at the last minute.

Vice President Pence said Thursday that Trump plans to meet Kim again next year and will push for a concrete plan outlining Pyongyang’s moves to end its arms programs.

Read more:

Pompeo’s meeting with North Korean counterpart called off at last minute

North Korea threatens to restart nuclear program unless U.S. lifts sanctions

Two Koreas agree to push ahead with road, rail links despite sanctions

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