N Korea says it tested weapon, wants Pompeo out of talks

Seoul, Apr il 18 

North Korea said on Thursday that it had test-fired a new type of “tactical guided weapon,” its first such test in nearly half a year, and demanded that Washington remove Secretary of State Mike Pompeo from nuclear negotiations.

The test, which didn’t appear to be of a banned mid- or long-range ballistic missile that could scuttle negotiations, allows North Korea to show its people it is pushing ahead with weapons development while also reassuring domestic military officials worried that diplomacy with Washington signals weakness. Separately, the North Korean Foreign Ministry accused Pompeo of playing down the significance of comments by leader Kim Jong Un, who said last week that Washington had until the end of the year to offer mutually acceptable terms for an agreement to salvage the high-stakes nuclear diplomacy. 

Both the demand for Pompeo’s removal from the talks and the weapon test point to North Korea’s displeasure with the deadlocked negotiations. In a statement issued under the name of Kwon Jong Gun, director general of the American Affairs Department at the Foreign Ministry, North Korea accused Pompeo of “talking nonsense” and misrepresenting Kim’s comments. In Texas on Monday, Pompeo said Kim promised to denuclearise during his first summit with President Donald Trump and that US officials were working with the North Koreans to “chart a path forward so we can get there.”— AP

May be cruise missile: Expert 

Melissa Hanham, a non-proliferation expert and director of the Datayo Project at the One Earth Future Foundation, said the North Korean weapon could be anything from an anti-tank weapon to a cruise missile.

North pushing with arms development

The test, which didn’t appear to be of a banned mid- or long-range ballistic missile that could scuttle negotiations, allows North Korea to show its people it is pushing ahead with weapons development while also reassuring domestic military officials worried that diplomacy with Washington signals weakness.

‘Pompeo playing down Kim’s comments’ 

The North Korean Foreign Ministry accused Pompeo of playing down the significance of comments by leader Kim Jong Un, who said last week that Washington had until the end of the year to offer mutually acceptable terms for an agreement to salvage the high-stakes nuclear diplomacy.