Kim oversees live-fire military exercise

Bloomberg

Kim Jong-un oversaw a live-fire military exercise that potentially included North Korea’s first ballistic missile launch since 2017 — challenging US President Donald Trump’s bottom line in nuclear talks.
Kim watched as “large-calibre, long-range multiple-rocket launchers and tactical guided weapons” were fired off North Korea’s eastern coast, according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). The state media’s report on Sunday was accompanied by a photo of what non-proliferation analysts said appeared to be the launch of a short-range ballistic missile.
While such a test would violate United Nations resolutions imposing sanctions on North Korea, it would stop short of breaching Kim’s own pledge to refrain from testing longer-range missiles that could threaten the US.
Trump had earlier brushed off the incident, saying in a tweet that Kim “does not want to break his promise to me.”
“Kim Jong-un may be starting his ‘push-the-line’ strategy, gradually seeing how much Trump will turn a blind eye to,” said Vipin Narang, an associate professor of political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a member of its security studies programme. “Not good.”
South Korean markets are closed for a holiday on Monday. So-called peace stocks, or companies with business ties to North Korea, may move on Tuesday as investors assess the impact.
Neither US nor South Korean authorities immediately confirmed a ballistic missile launch, which was bolstered by a satellite image from Planet Labs Inc showing what appeared to be a single missile contrail at the exercise site. South Korea’s defense ministry said that North Korea tested “new tactical weapons” and artillery that travelled 70-240 kilometres, without mentioning “missiles.”
Nathan Hunt, an independent defense researcher, said the South Korean statement was “skirting over” North Korea’s ballistic missile launch.