Kim oversees new ‘guided weapon’ test

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has supervised the test-firing of a new type of “tactical guided weapon,” the country’s state media has reported. It said the “advantages” of the weapon were “the peculiar mode of guiding flight and the load of a powerful warhead”.

The North’s official Rodong Sinmun newspaper reported that Kim supervised the test at the Academy of Defense Science on Wednesday.

“Kim Jong Un, chairman of the Workers’ Party of Korea, chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and supreme commander of the Armed Forces of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, supervised and guided a test-fire of a new-type tactical guided weapon conducted by the Academy of Defence Science on Wednesday,” read the official release by the newspaper.

Kim was reported to have said “the development of the weapon system serves as an event of very weighty significance in increasing the combat power of the People’s Army.”

The report also added that Kim had set goals for “keeping munitions production going, and putting national defense science and technology on [a] cutting edge level.”

The report offered few details about the weapon, except that it was test-fired at various targets, carried a “powerful warhead” and had a “peculiar mode of guiding flight.”

The U.S. and South Korean governments have so far not commented on the test.

He was accompanied by Kim Phyong Hae, O Su Yong, Jo Yong Won, Ri Pyong Chol, Kim Jong Sik and other senior officials of the Party Central Committee and commanding officers of the Korean People’s Army including Kim Su Gil, Ri Yong Gil, No Kwang Chol, Pak Jong Chon and Pak Kwang Ju.