North Korea’s Kim Jong Un conducted a test of a new unspecified weapon at one of the country’s weapons testing sites Thursday, according to a report from South Korean media.
Yonhap News Agency reports that Kim was present for a test of an “unspecified new tactical weapon,” which Yonhap reports is the first field inspection Kim has conducted of a weapons test since around the same time last year.
{mosads}”The state-of-the art weapon that has been long developed under the leadership of our party’s dynamic leadership has a meaning of completely safeguarding our territory and significantly improving the combat power of our people’s army,” a report on North Korean state media read, according to Yonhap.
“The testing of the high-tech tactical weapon has been carried out successfully, meeting all superior and powerful designing indicators,” the North Korean report continued.
The test of the unspecified weapon comes amid months of talks between the U.S. and North Korea surrounding a deal reached by President Trump and Kim at a summit earlier this year to seek a complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
More talks between the two leaders are currently planned for next year, during which Vice President Mike Pence said the two will hopefully produce a “verifiable plan” for removing the weapons.
“I think it will be absolutely imperative in this next summit that we come away with a plan for identifying all of the weapons in question, identifying all the development sites, allowing for inspections of the sites and the plan for dismantling nuclear weapons,” Pence said Thursday.
Earlier this week, Trump lashed out at The New York Times over a report detailing undeclared military bases in the country, arguing that the U.S. had already known about the bases.
“The story in the New York Times concerning North Korea developing missile bases is inaccurate. We fully know about the sites being discussed, nothing new – and nothing happening out of the normal. Just more Fake News. I will be the first to let you know if things go bad!” the president tweeted.