Kim visits North Korean weapons museum displaying missile capable of reaching US
North Korean state media reported Kim Jong Un’s museum visit a day after Donald Trump raised the possibility of meeting him during a planned Asia trip.
Pyongyang, North Korea. Kim Jong Un visited a defence industry museum exhibiting an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of striking the United States, North Korea’s state news agency KCNA reported on Tuesday.
Museum opening and weapons displays
According to KCNA, Kim attended Sunday’s opening ceremony for the Defence Revolution Museum alongside his daughter, known as Ju Ae, and his wife, Ri Sol Ju.
Photographs released by the agency showed weapons developed during Kim’s leadership, including drones and the Hwasong-20 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
Shin Jong-woo, Secretary General of the Korea Defence and Security Forum, said a display positioned before the Hwasong-20 launcher appeared to depict a multiple-warhead design. He said an accompanying world map illustrated ranges reaching beyond the US mainland, extending to the Middle East, Australia and South America.
Possible meeting with Trump
KCNA’s report followed remarks a day earlier by US President Donald Trump, who said he might meet Kim while making a planned visit to Asia. Trump is expected to participate in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, scheduled for mid-November in China.
Shin said the exhibition appeared designed to showcase accomplishments from Kim’s defence science development programme. He characterised it as apparent propaganda intended to secure a strategic advantage before a possible summit between North Korea and the United States.
Analysts also viewed the museum as part of Kim’s wider effort to make weapons displays enduring symbols of his regime’s military achievements.
Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies, said replacing temporary weapons exhibitions with a permanent museum institutionalised Kim’s military accomplishments. In his assessment, it presented North Korea’s expansion of its nuclear and missile capabilities as a completed legacy intended to endure.
Separate missile test
North Korea separately announced that it had conducted a tactical ballistic missile test on Monday to verify a successful technical upgrade to an unidentified key component.
KCNA described the upgrade as a significant step towards better performance across all offensive weapons systems, but supplied no additional details.
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