The media is freaking out over North Korea firing off a tactical weapon about an hour ago:
U.S. officials say North Korean missile test likely “short-range” test of small, guided weapon, not a ballistic missile. North Korea last test-fired a ballistic missile in November 2017. U.S. intelligence did not detect any missile launch from North Korea, officials say
— Lucas Tomlinson (@LucasFoxNews) April 17, 2019
The Pentagon has not confirmed.
PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korea test-fires a new tactical guided weapon. Kim Jong Un calls it an "event of very weighty significance."
— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) April 17, 2019
More from the Hill:
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has supervised the test firing of a “new-type tactical guided weapon,” North Korean state media said Wednesday, without elaborating on what exactly the weapon is.
The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said that Kim called the weapon’s development “an event of very weighty significance.”
“Saying that the completion of the development of the weapon system serves as an event of very weighty significance in increasing the combat power of the People’s Army, [Kim] noted that it is a very good thing that the field of national defense science has waged a dynamic struggle for attaining core research goals,” KCNA said, according to South Korean news agency Yonhap.
“After watching the power of the new-type tactical guided weapon, [Kim] pointed out that our national defense scientists and workers in the field of the munitions industry performed another great work in increasing the country’s defense capabilities,” KCNA said.
This isn’t as bad as a ballistic missile, but it’s definitely a provocation. And it’s too bad because although Trump’s meetings haven’t resulted in anything substantive, at least Kim Jong Un had shut down the missile testing. Experts believe though, that he’s just as dangerous, and he’s using this time to strengthen his stranglehold on his country. We shall see.