Politics

Pyongyang claims to have launched anti-aircraft missile

Seoul, Oct 1 (EFE).- North Korea has test-fired a newly developed anti-aircraft missile, state media reported Friday, becoming its fourth weapons test in recent weeks.

The state news agency KCNA said that the Academy of Defense Science carried out the test on Thursday, the same day that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un spurned the United States but announced that he will re-establish communication hotlines with South Korea.

This gesture of diplomatic rapprochement coincided with a series of weapons tests that began on Sep. 12 and that at one point were responded to by Seoul with its own missile test and the announcement that the South is developing new weapons, showing a serious arms escalation on the peninsula.

The brief KCNA announcement did not name the new missile, nor say where the test took place, and did not provide flight data, although it states that the test was “of very practical significance in studying and developing various prospective anti-aircraft missile systems.”

The text highlighted the weapon’s “rapid responsiveness and guidance accuracy of missile control system” and added that the “distance of downing air targets with the introduction of new key technologies like a twin-rudder control technology and double-impulse flight engine has been verified.”

The dual rudder control appears to consist of the addition of different ailerons to increase its maneuverability, according to the photo published by KCNA.

The test aimed to “confirm the practicality of operation of the launcher, radar and all-purpose battle command vehicle as well as the comprehensive combat performance of the missile,” according to KCNA.

Pak Jong-chon, one of five members of the powerful single-party presidium, was present at the launch, which was not attended by Kim.

Pak, who was demoted in the summer for an incident related to the management of the pandemic to be reinstated shortly after and included as part of the presidium, has overseen other recent missile tests conducted by the regime.

The current military escalation in the peninsula takes place with the dialogue on denuclearization stalled since 2019. EFE

asb/tw

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