DPRK tests new 'super-large' multiple rocket launch system

Pyongyang has successfully tested a new "super-large multiple rocket launch system" under the guidance of its leader Kim Jong-un, the official Korean Central News Agency reported on Sunday, amid "ever-mounting military threats and pressure offensive from the hostile forces".

The top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea guided the firing of the super-large multiple rocket launcher on Saturday, the KCNA said, adding that "the test-fire proved that all the tactical and technological specifications of the system correctly reached the preset indices".

Kim underscored the need to push for "an indomitable offensive campaign" and intensify the development of its own style of strategic and tactical weapons "for resolutely frustrating the ever-mounting military threats and pressure offensive from the hostile forces," the report added.

On Saturday, Republic of Korea's military announced that the DPRK fired two projectiles presumed to be short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast, saying both flew around 380 kilometers at a maximum altitude of 97 km, according to The Associated Press.

The latest test marked the seventh missile launch by the DPRK since July 25 and the ninth this year, which came after the end of a joint annual military exercises between the ROK and the United States earlier this week.

Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump said the DPRK top leader Kim in a letter made a "little apology" for testing short-range missiles and promised that the testing would stop after the end of the military exercise.

Some ROK media reports said that speculation arose that Washington and Pyongyang might soon resume their denuclearization talks, as top US nuclear envoy Stephen Biegun has paid a visit to Seoul last week.

The DPRK, however, has renewed its criticism of Seoul and Washington on Friday, as its Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho issued a statement saying that it would be a "miscalculation" if the US confronts Pyongyang with sanctions.

Pyongyang is ready for both dialogue and a standoff, but it will remain "the biggest threat" to Washington if the US stick to a hostile stance, Ri said. He slammed US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Ri's possible counterpart when talks resume, and called him "the diehard toxin of the US diplomacy" for hampering talks between the two countries, the KCNA reported.

Observers see Pyongyang's recent sharply-worded statements as signaling that Pyongyang might not be in a rush to resume bilateral nuclear talks, Reuters reported. Some see the tests as intended to strengthen negotiation leverage before agreed to talks.

Trump and Kim agreed to restart working-level talks within several weeks when they met at the inter-Korean border on June 30. The talks were expected to be held in mid-July, but they have not taken place to date.