North Korea's Kim Visits Museum Displaying Missile Capable Of Reaching US

AP

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, front left, his wife and their daughter touring a new defense museum at an undisclosed location in North Korea on Sunday.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited a defence industry museum displaying an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the United States, state media KCNA reported on Tuesday.

The visit came a day after US President Donald Trump said he might meet Kim during a planned trip to Asia. Trump is expected to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in China in mid-November.

Kim, accompanied by his daughter known as Ju Ae and wife Ri Sol Ju, attended the opening of the newly opened Defence Revolution Museum on Sunday, KCNA said.

The museum showcased weapons developed under Kim’s leadership, ranging from drones to the Hwasong-20 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), according to photographs released by KCNA.

A display in front of the Hwasong-20 launcher appeared to depict a multiple-warhead design and a world map showing ranges extending beyond the US mainland to the Middle East, Australia and South America, said Shin Jong-woo, secretary-general of the Korea Defence and Security Forum.

"The exhibition appears intended to highlight the achievements of Kim's defence science development programme," ‌Shin ⁠said. "It gave the impression of propaganda aimed at gaining a strategic advantage ahead of potential a North Korea-US summit."

Separately, North Korea said it test-fired a tactical ballistic missile on Monday to verify a successful technical upgrade to an unspecified key component.

State media KCNA described the upgrade as an important step towards improving the performance of the country’s offensive weapons systems but provided no further details.

South Korea’s military said on Monday that North Korea had fired multiple ballistic missiles towards waters off its east coast. The launch marked Pyongyang’s fourth missile test in a month, following Seoul’s recent test of a hypersonic missile.

Source: Reuters



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