North Korea says it confirmed accuracy of tactical guided missiles in test

North Korea's military fires a missile from Sunan Airport in Pyongyang, Jan. 17, the North's official Korean Central New Agency reported Jan. 18. Yonhap

North Korea said Tuesday that it conducted the test-firing of a tactical guided missile a day earlier to confirm the accuracy of the weapon system that is under production.

On Monday, South Korea's military said the North fired two suspected short-range ballistic missiles eastward from the Sunan Airport in Pyongyang, marking its fourth show of force this month.

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"The test-fire was aimed to selectively evaluate tactical guided missiles being produced and deployed and to verify the accuracy of the weapon system," the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un did not attend the launch.

Monday's test appears to have involved the North's version of the U.S. Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), the KN-24, according to a photo released by state media. The missile is known to fly on a complicated trajectory to evade interception.

"The two tactical guided missiles launched in the western area of the DPRK precisely hit an island target in the East Sea of Korea," the KCNA said. DPRK stands for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The Academy of Defense Science which conducted the launch "confirmed the accuracy, security and efficiency of the operation of the weapon system under production," it added.

The North's latest saber-rattling came just three days after it fired two missiles from a train-based platform Friday, hours after Pyongyang warned of a "stronger and certain reaction" to new U.S. sanctions.

The United States announced fresh sanctions on six North Koreans involved in the regime's weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs Wednesday following the North's consecutive launch of what it claimed were hypersonic missiles, Jan. 5 and 11.

Denuclearization negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang have remain stalled since the Hanoi summit in February 2019.

The latest missiles flew about 380 kilometers at an altitude of 42 km within a four-minute interval of each other, according to the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff. (Yonhap)

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