DPRK tests tactical ballistic missile with new navigation technology
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The DPRK conducts a test fire of a tactical ballistic missile using a new autonomous navigation system in its eastern waters on Friday.
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People watch a television screen showing a news broadcast with file footage of a North Korean missile test, at a railway station in Seoul on May 17, 2024. (AFP)
DPRK State media announced on Saturday that Pyongyang had test-fired a tactical ballistic missile incorporating a "new autonomous navigation system," as leader Kim Jong Un vowed to enhance the country's nuclear force.
According to Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim supervised the Friday test-firing, which took place in the East Sea, commonly referred to as the Sea of Japan, to assess the "precision and dependability of the autonomous navigation system."
The recent launch marks another advancement in a series of increasingly advanced tests conducted by the DPRK. Over the past few months, the country, which is nuclear-armed and subject to UN sanctions, has launched cruise missiles, tactical rockets, and hypersonic weapons as part of its stated objective to enhance its defensive capabilities.
The Friday launch occurred shortly after the Deputy Department Director of the Publicity and Information Department of the Workers' Party of Korea, Kim Yo Jong, dismissed accusations from Seoul and Washington that Pyongyang is supplying weapons to Russia for deployment in the conflict in Ukraine.
Read next: DPRK's Kim Yo Jong: We will build overwhelming military power
Seoul's military reported yesterday that the DPRK has fired at least one "unidentified ballistic missile."
The DPRK "fires unidentified ballistic missile toward East Sea," Seoul's joint chiefs of staff said, referring to the body of water also known as the Sea of Japan.
Later, Seoul's military said the DPRK fired multiple short-range missiles off South Korea's eastern coastal town of Wonsan. Meanwhile, Japanese broadcaster NHK, citing government sources, also said the missile "appeared to be short range and has already fallen."
The launch is the latest since the DPRK fired a volley of what Seoul said were short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast on April 22.
