Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) leader Kim Jong Un again supervised the test-firing of a "newly developed" weapon, state media Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Sunday.
Republic of Korea (ROK)'s military had said the DPRK launched what appeared to be two short-range ballistic missiles on Saturday, but the DPRK's state media said a "super-large multiple rocket launcher" had been tested.
It was the latest in a series of launches that nuclear-armed DPRK has conducted in recent weeks in protest against U.S.-ROK joint military exercises, which wrapped up nearly a week ago.
Kim said the "newly developed" system is a "great weapon," and expressed "high appreciation" for the scientists who designed and built it, KCNA said.
"The test-fire proved that all the tactical and technological specifications of the system correctly reached the preset indexes," the report said.
Kim also said the country needed to keep stepping up weapons development "for resolutely frustrating the ever-mounting military threats and pressure offensive of the hostile forces," KCNA noted.
Kim has reportedly observed at least two other tests of "new" weapons this month alone, though nature and technical specifications of those weapons remain a mystery.
The picture released from DPRK's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on August 11 shows the test-fire of a new weapon at an undisclosed location in the DPRK, August 10, 2019. /VCG Photo
Saturday's test prompted ROK's presidential Blue House to convene a National Security Council (NSC) meeting.
"NSC members agreed to continue diplomatic efforts with the international community to bring the North (DPRK) back to the negotiation table with the U.S. to achieve the goal of complete denuclearization on the Korean peninsula," the government said in a statement.
But starting those talks in a near-future seems to be a fading possibility.
On Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump said that even after the latest launches the United States has a good relationship with the DPRK. "Kim Jong Un has been... pretty straight with me," Trump told reporters at the White House.
Working-level talks between the U.S. and the DPRK have yet to restart, since Trump and Kim met in June at the inter-Korean border and agreed to reopen negotiations.
Pyongyang said earlier that the annual U.S.-ROK joint military drills "complicated" nuclear talks between the two countries.
"We are ready for both dialogue and stand-off," DPRK's Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho said in a statement.