Kim Jong-un says North Korea’s new rocket system will cause ‘inescapable distress to fat targets’
- State agency report disputes assessment by South Korean military, which said Wednesday’s launches were of two short-range ballistic missiles
- US national security adviser John Bolton insisted the tests did not contravene a pledge made by Kim to US President Donald Trump
North Korea said on Thursday that its leader Kim Jong-un supervised test firings of a new multiple rocket launcher system he sees as soon serving a “main role” in his military’s land combat operations.
The report by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency on Thursday disputed the assessment by South Korea’s military, which had concluded Wednesday’s launches as two short-range ballistic missiles.
However, US national security adviser John Bolton insisted the tests did not contravene a pledge made by Kim to US President Donald Trump.
“The firing of these missiles don’t violate the pledge that Kim Jong-un made to the president about intercontinental-range ballistic missiles,” he said. “But you have to ask when the real diplomacy is going to begin, when the working-level discussions on denuclearisation will begin, as Kim Jong-un again said on June 30 he was prepared to do. We’re still waiting to hear from North Korea.”
The launches from the eastern coastal town of Wonsan were North Korea’s second weapons test in less than a week and were seen as a move to keep up pressure on Washington and Seoul amid a stalemate in nuclear negotiations. Pyongyang has also expressed anger over planned US-South Korea military drills.