North Korea has successfully tested super-large multiple rocket launcher's successive firing system, Yonhap News Agency reported on Friday. According to the newspaper, the country's leader Kim Jong-un guided the test.
"Through the successive firing test, the weapons system's superiority and reliability have been confirmed", the news agency said.
Kim had expressed his great satisfaction with the results of the launch, the state-run KCNA news agency reported.
Apart from Kim, the launch was observed by high-ranked officials from the Workers' Party of North Korea and the country's top military officials.
On Thursday, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said it had identified two short-range projectiles fired from Yeonpo in the country's eastern South Hamgyong Province toward the East Sea [Sea of Japan], which presumably are large-caliber multiple-launch rocket systems. The two missiles flew around 380 kilometres (236 miles) at an altitude of 97 kilometres.
#NorthKorea projectiles reported fired from area of Yonpo, home to small military airstrip with AN-2/Y-5 biplanes (39°47′26″N 127°32′7″E) pic.twitter.com/T0XFiEOu0l
— Joseph Dempsey (@JosephHDempsey) November 28, 2019
The missiles have most likely landed outside Japan's exclusive economic zone. This is already the twelfth launch of this kind since May.
In late-October, Pyongyang launched two short-range projectiles that flew 370 kilometres at an altitude of 90 kilometres towards the Sea of Japan.
The most recent test launch by North Korea was met with a fresh wave of criticism from the West. Particularly, Germany called on North Korea to begin earnest negotiations with the United States about its disarmament. The United Kingdom urged North Korea to stop its missile tests and resume its denuclearization talks with the United States.
