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Officials from the United States, South Korea, and Japan met to discuss how to revive the denuclearization negotiations and announced the test.
North Korea stated that it continued to expand its military capabilities and conducted a series of successful tests of its new long-range cruise missile over the weekend when the nuclear talks with the United States were deadlocked.
The North Korean Central News Agency said on Monday that the two-year-old cruise missile successfully hit a target 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) away on Saturday and Sunday.
North Korea described its new weapons as “strategic weapons of great significance”, in line with leader Kim Jong Un’s call to strengthen the country’s military strength. The South Korean military did not immediately confirm North Korea’s test.
Pyongyang’s last known missile test was in March, when it launched a new type of tactical short-range ballistic missile. It also conducted cruise missile tests a few hours after U.S. President Joe Biden took office in late January.
The latest test highlights the continued expansion of the country’s weapons program since negotiations with the United States to dismantle North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs fell into a deadlock in 2019.
The official newspaper of the ruling Labor Party, “Rodong Sinmun”, published photos of the new long-range cruise missile launched in the air and from the transport-installation-launcher.
KCNA stated that the missile is a strategic weapon developed in the past two years and a key element of the five-year plan for advancing national defense science and weapons arsenal formulated in January.
“Detailed tests of missile components, engine ground thrust tests, various flight tests, control and guidance tests, warhead power tests, etc. have all been successful,” it said.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un did not appear to take part in the test. KCNA stated that Park Jong-quan, a powerful Politburo member and secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, supervised the test.
The day before the announcement of the test, the chief nuclear negotiators of the United States, South Korea, and Japan met in Tokyo to discuss ways to break the impasse with North Korea.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is also scheduled to visit Seoul on Tuesday to hold talks with his Foreign Minister Zheng Yiyong.
The Biden administration has expressed its willingness to use diplomatic channels to allow North Korea to dismantle its nuclear arsenal, but it has not shown its willingness to relax sanctions.
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