North Korea test was not ballistic missile - acting defense chief

WASHINGTON, April 19 (KUNA) -- US Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan confirmed that North Korea did conduct a test last Wednesday but it was not "a ballistic missile." Shanahan told reporters "I'm not going to go into the detailed intelligence. But the way I'd characterize it is, it's not a ballistic missile." He affirmed "also, there's no change to our posture or to our operations." He reiterated that the test "was not a ballistic missile. So I think that's a statement in and of itself." "I would say, let us look at the intelligence that we've gathered and then formulate, really, kind of what the message is," he stressed. "You could interpret a lot of things. I'm not going to rush to judgment." North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has supervised a test-firing of a new tactical guided weapon with a powerful warhead, according to North's state media.
The Korean Central News Agency said the tactical weapon with a "peculiar mode of guiding flight" and "a powerful warhead" met all designing indicators in the firing test. (end) si.mb