This archive report was first published on 11 August 2019.
US President Donald Trump has downplayed North Korea's latest missile test, saying it was not important and that the country had not conducted any nuclear tests.
The test, which was supervised by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, was the fifth in two weeks and was seen as a protest against the annual military drills between Seoul and Washington.
According to Defence officials in Seoul, Pyongyang fired two short-range ballistic missiles on Saturday, which flew 400 kilometres before splashing down in the sea between the Korean peninsula and Japan.
State media reported that the missiles were a 'new weapon' developed to suit the country's 'terrain condition', but provided no technical specifications.
Kim Dong-yub, a researcher at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies, said the weapons were likely to be new short-range ballistic missiles that are part of Pyongyang's modernisation of its military capabilities.
Trump's comments came after he met Kim in a historic summit in Singapore in June 2018, and despite a breakdown in talks since then, he has been reluctant to criticise the North Korean leader.
On Friday, Trump said he agreed with Kim's opposition to the war games, albeit for financial rather than military reasons, and indicated the missile launches were not important.
"I'll say it again. There have been no nuclear tests. The missile tests have all been short-range. No ballistic missile tests, no long-range missiles," Trump said.
However, analysts have said that Trump's downplaying of the launches was equivalent to endorsing the missile tests, and that it was giving North Korea a licence to fire short-range missiles.
