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US Spy Plane Reportedly Scrambled Over Seoul After North Korea's New Weapon Test

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The alleged development comes a few days after the KCNA reported that North Korea had test-fired a new type of “tactical guided weapon” – just two months after a summit between US President Donald Trump and DPRK leader Kim Jong-un ended abruptly without a denuclearisation deal.

A US spy plane was spotted over the South Korean capital of Seoul after North Korea tested what it said was a new tactical guided weapon with a “powerful warhead”, The Chosun Ilbo reported. 

READ MORE: ‘Tactical Guided Denuclearisation’: Why is N Korea Demonstrating New Weapons?

The RC-135W Rivet Joint reportedly covered an area from Gyeonggi to Gangwon provinces, south of the no-fly zone established to prevent any form of cross-border hostilities under a September 2018 agreement. The United States has yet to comment on the reports.

U.S. President Donald Trump is seen during a news conference after Trump's summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, at the JW Marriott Hotel in Hanoi, Vietnam February 28, 2019 - Sputnik International
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The newspaper cited a South Korean military officer as saying that the RC-135W Rivet Joint has seldom flown over the capital area, but has usually remained over the Yellow Sea and nearby areas.

According to the military, the last time the US reconnaissance plane was scrambled over Seoul was after Pyongyang carried out a series of missile tests back in 2017.

On Thursday, the KCNA reported that Pyongyang had tested a “new-type tactical guided weapon”, pointing out that it has a “peculiar mode of guiding flight”.

According to the DPRK’s state media, the brief test, which was “conducted in various modes of firing at different targets”, was overseen by Kim Jong-un himself.

READ MORE: Trump, Moon Discuss Establishing Post-Hanoi ‘Way Forward’ With N Korea — WH

The reported development marked the first publicised weapons test since the Hanoi talks between Kim and US President Donald Trump failed in late February.

U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with North Korea leader Kim Jong Un at the Capella resort on Sentosa Island Tuesday, June 12, 2018 in Singapore. - Sputnik International
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The much-hyped second meeting between the two heads of state came to a sudden end without an agreement on denuclearisation after Washington refused to ease sanctions on Pyongyang.

At the time, Trump told reporters that North Korea wanted “the sanctions lifted in their entirety”, and “we couldn’t do that”.

The first Trump-Kim meeting in Singapore last June was dubbed fruitful by both sides, and ended with a historic declaration that paved the way for talks on denuclearisation and normalisation of bilateral relations, among other goals.

READ MORE: Trump Asked Kim to Transfer North Korea's Nukes, Fuel to US at Summit — Report

After multiple tests, Kim pledged last April that Pyongyang would refrain from nuclear tests and launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles in what was considered by his South Korean counterpart, Moon Jae-in, an important step toward the peninsula’s complete denuclearisation.

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