Seoul (AFP)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Saturday oversaw the test of a "large-scale multiple missile launcher," the North Korean official KCNA news agency reported on Sunday.

After the test, Mr. Kim said that this "newly developed" system was "a great weapon", and he expressed "great appreciation" to the scientists who designed and built it, reported KCNA.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs' Staff on Saturday described the North Korean test as the firing of two short-range ballistic missiles.

According to KCNA, "the test showed that all the tactical and technological specifications of the system have correctly met the standards that had been set".

- "Hostile Forces" -

North Korea must continue to strengthen arms development "to resolutely counter the military threats and increasing pressure from hostile forces," Kim said according to the official agency.

Photos published by the official daily Rodong Sinmun show a Kim Jong Un with a wide smile standing in front of a large eight-wheeled launcher, and the departure of missiles fired from the long tubes of the machine.

Saturday's test was the latest in a series of short-range missile tests conducted in August by North Korea to express dissatisfaction with joint military maneuvers conducted by South Korean and US forces. These maneuvers ended a little less than a week ago.

According to Pyongyang, Kim has observed at least two other "new" weapons tests in the past month. But the nature and characteristics of these armaments are not known.

In Seoul, Saturday's trial led the South Korean presidency to convene a meeting of the National Security Council, the NSC.

"NSC members have decided to continue diplomatic efforts with the international community to bring North Korea back to the negotiating table with the United States to achieve the goal of complete denuclearization on the Korean peninsula", said the South Korean government in a statement.

- Dead end -

Bilateral talks between Washington and Pyongyang have stalled since the failure of the second summit between US President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un in Hanoi in February.

Saturday's test seems to be "the fourth new missile system that North Korea has inaugurated since the failure of Hanoi," tweeted Vipin Narang, associate professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). According to him, Mr. Kim leads "a campaign of maximum pressure".

After Hanoi, MM. Kim and Trump met again in June at the border in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), which has separated the two states since the end of the Korean War (1950-53).

The meeting resulted in the decision to restart discussions on the Pyongyang nuclear program, just over a year after the first Trump-Kim summit in Singapore. However, these discussions have not resumed since.

Visiting Seoul this week, US Special Envoy for North Korea Stephen Biegun said the US was "ready to start talks" as soon as it got "news" from Pyongyang .

But the possibility of an early resumption of these talks seems weak, judging by recent statements from Pyongyang.

Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho warned Friday that North Korea would remain "for a long time the biggest + threat to the United States."

And the minister launched a frontal attack on US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, calling him "irreducible toxin" and declaring himself "skeptical" about the possibility of negotiating with him.

"We are ready for dialogue as well as for blocking," said the North Korean minister.

© 2019 AFP