North Korea tests a new type of tactical nuclear weapon

North Korea announced today that it has tested a new type of tactical weapon designed to “Improving efficiency in the operation of nuclear weapons tactics”according to state media.

The test was held on Saturday and was attended by the leader Kim Jong-un, as explained by the KCNA news agency, which also showed photos of the projectiles launched from a beach and of a small islet suffering the impact of the same.

The test, the 13th North Korea has conducted this year, comes at a time of particular tension on the peninsulawhere satellites have detected Pyongyang’s preparations to carry out a new nuclear test and where Seoul and Washington begin their joint spring military exercises on Monday.

According to the brief information from KCNA, this weapon “is of great importance to drastically improve the firepower of front-line long-range artillery units and increase efficiency in the operation of tactical nuclear weapons of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (official name of North Korea).

Shortly after the North Korean media release, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) confirmed the test.

The JCS detailed that “The South Korean military detected two projectiles fired by North Korea from the Hamhung region (northeast of the country) to the East Sea (the name given to the Sea of ​​Japan in the two Koreas) around 6:00 p.m. yesterday (9:00 GMT on Saturday)” in a statement sent to journalists.

The launch parameters detected yesterday were about 25 kilometers in maximum height, about 110 kilometers in flight distance and a maximum speed of less than Mach 4.0,” the text explained, adding that the intelligence agencies of South Korea and the United States are “performing a detailed analysis.”

“Immediately after launch an emergency meeting was held between the military, intelligence agencies and the National Security Office to assess the situation and discuss countermeasures,” the statement concludes.