State Dept Responds to DPRK Weapons Test, 'Confident' Promises Will Be Fulfilled

The US State Department has responded to the recent report that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un observed a test of the country's new high-tech tactical weapon.

The US State Department spokesman said on Thursday that it remains "confident that the promises made by President Trump and Chairman Kim will be fulfilled," after the South Korean Yonhap news agency reported citing a message carried by the North Korean state-run Korean Central Broadcasting Station that Kim had visited a North Korean national defence institute to inspect the test of the unspecified state-of-the-art tactical weapon, Reuters reported.

The North Korean leader's move was his first visit to a weapons test since last November when he observed the launch of the Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile, Yonhap noted.

The reports added that the test of the new weapon was successful. Kim reportedly praised the North Korean scientists arguing that the successful test will boost his country's defense capabilities.

READ MORE: Kim Jong Un: New Tactical Weapon Shows Defense Capabilities 'Rapidly Growing'

During the testing site inspection, Kim was accompanied by Choe Ryong Hae, the vice chairman of the North Korean Workers' Party; Ri Pyong Chol, the Munitions Industry Department's senior official; and Jo Yong Won, the vice department director of the party's Central Committee.

The test of the new North Korean weapon was held amid the efforts of Pyongyang and Washington to maintain bilateral dialogue that follow Kim's landmark summit with US President Donald Trump, during which both expressed the commitment for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, in June.