North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw a “successful test” of a super-large multiple launch rocket system and expressed “great satisfaction,” state media said on Friday (local time), according to Reuters.
The report came after South Korea’s military said the North had fired two short-range projectiles into the sea off its east coast on Thursday.
Pyongyang’s official KCNA news agency said Kim oversaw the latest test, as he did with previous tests.
“The volley test-fire aimed to finally examine the combat application of the super-large multiple launch rocket system proved the military and technical superiority of the weapon system and its firm reliability,” KCNA said.
“The Supreme Leader expressed great satisfaction over the results of the test-fire.”
North Korea has conducted several tests of ballistic missiles since a June meeting between Kim and US President Donald Trump, including at the beginning of October, when it tested a new type of submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM).
At the end of October, it tested what was described as “super-large multiple rocket launchers”.
The latest test could be a Thanksgiving reminder to the United States of a year-end deadline Kim has set for Washington to show flexibility in their stalled denuclearization talks.
Kim has set an end-year deadline to kick-start the talks with Washington, but negotiations remain stalemated after a working-level meeting last month broke down.
Last month’s meeting on the outskirts of Stockholm was the first formal working-level discussion between the US and North Korea since Trump and Kim met in June and agreed to restart negotiations that stalled after a failed summit in Vietnam in February.
Trump has said he's "not happy" about North Korea's persistent testing of short-range missiles but denied the launches violate any agreement.
A senior North Korean official warned several weeks ago that his country is “running out of patience” with the United States.
North Korea has demanded that sanctions against it be lifted and warned it could take a “new path,” raising concerns it may resume nuclear and long-range missile testing suspended since 2017.