North Korea has claimed to have tested a new type of guided missile on the battlefield, which was also noted by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the official Korean Central News Agency reported on Sunday, adding that the test was aimed at enhancing the country’s nuclear strike capability.
This was North Korea’s thirteenth missile test this year.
In recent weeks, experts from South Korea and the United States have said there are increasing indications that North Korea will soon resume its nuclear tests.
Pyongyang also claimed that it tested a new type of ICBM in March to deter “US imperialism”. Prior to that, he conducted a test with an ICBM in 2017, and test results in March showed that the missile flew higher and farther than before.
The South Korean military said on Sunday that it detected two missile launches on the country’s east coast on Saturday. The missiles reached 110 kilometers in the East Sea (Japan), reached a height of 25 kilometers, and had a speed of less than four times the speed of sound. They said these indicated that they were short-range missiles.
According to the Korean Central News Agency, the tested missiles have an important role to play in increasing the firepower of long-range artillery units and the operational efficiency of nuclear weapons on the battlefield.
Analysts say North Korea’s short-range ballistic missile is intended to bypass South Korea’s missile defenses if it is forced to respond in the event of a southern attack.
Photo released by North Korea’s state news agency, KCNA, of testing a new type of guided missile on the battlefield at an unnamed site on April 17, 2022. MTI/EPA/KCNA
