North Korea Reportedly Tests New Rocket Launcher

Kim has "expressed great satisfaction over the result of the test-fire", according to Yonhap on Saturday, citing the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The North Korean outlet claims Pyongyang's firing of its "newly-developed large-caliber multiple launch guided rocket system early on Friday morning" was carried out to "examine" its air performance and measure its ability to control the missiles.

US President Donald Trump has dismissed North Korea's latest missile tests, saying Pyongyang is too smart to disappoint its "friend" the US. North Korea's wellbeing, Trump implied, is solely at his mercy.

“Chairman Kim does not want to disappoint me with a violation of trust, there is far too much for North Korea to gain,” Trump tweeted on Friday.

While North Korea’s three short-range missile tests over the past few days “may be a United Nations violation”, he explained in a series of subtly menacing posts that the launches hadn’t broken any agreement with the US – because Kim would never be so foolish as to break a deal with the US.

Kim “has a great and beautiful vision for his country”, Trump continued, but “only the United States, with me as President, can make that vision come true”. Kim was “far too smart” not to “do the right thing”, lest he “disappoint his friend, President Trump”.

Also, when asked about North Korea's recent missile launches on Friday, Trump told reporters that Pyongyang's actions were "very standard", explained, "Short-range missiles, we never discussed that."

North Korea had fired two short-range ballistic missiles early on Wednesday, only days after it launched two similar missiles on July 25.

On Thursday, Pyongyang confirmed it had conducted tests of a “large-caliber multiple launch guided rocket system” the day before, firing several rockets into the Sea of Japan. Leader Kim Jong-un personally oversaw the launch, according to Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The new weapon was reportedly developed over the past three years and is intended to play a major role in ground operations, causing “inescapable distress” to hostile forces.

North Korea had paused its missile tests for about two years, pending its talks with the Trump administration about denuclearization and ending the frozen conflict in the Korean peninsula. The talks stalled during the February summit between Kim and Trump in Hanoi, Vietnam, as Pyongyang asked for the lifting of some sanctions as a goodwill gesture, while Washington insisted on complete disarmament before any sanctions relief.

The brief but historic meeting of Trump and Kim in the demilitarized zone in late June has not helped revive the process.

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