SEOUL, March 25 (AFP) - North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un personally oversaw the test-firing of the country's "new type" of intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) to boost its nuclear deterrent against American "imperialists", state media reported on Friday (Mar 25).
The Thursday launch was the first time Pyongyang has fired Kim's most powerful missiles at full range since 2017, and it appears to have travelled higher and further than any previous ICBM tested by the nuclear-armed country.
The test launch of the "new-type intercontinental ballistic missile", the Hwasong-17, was conducted under the "direct guidance" of leader Kim, KCNA reported.
The Hwasong-17 is a giant ICBM first unveiled in October 2020 and dubbed a "monster missile" by analysts. It had never previously been successfully test fired, and the launch prompted immediate outrage from Pyongyang's neighbours and the United States.
State media carried photographs of Kim, wearing his customary black leather jacket and dark sunglasses, walking across the tarmac in front of a large missile carried on an 11-axle transporter.
"The missile, launched at Pyongyang International Airport, travelled up to a maximum altitude of 6,248.5km and flew a distance of 1,090km for 4,052 seconds before accurately hitting the pre-set area in open waters" in the Sea of Japan, KCNA said.
South Korea's military had estimated the range of the Thursday launch as 6,200km - far longer than the last ICBM, the Hwasong-15, North Korea tested in October 2017.
The missile landed in Japanese territorial waters, prompting anger from Tokyo, but KCNA said that the launch had been carried out "in a vertical launch mode in consideration of the security of neighbouring countries".
North Korea is under biting international sanctions for its weapons programs, and the United Nations Security Council will hold an emergency meeting over the launch on Friday.
Seoul, Washington and UN chief Antonio Guterres have all denounced the launch as a "clear violation" of Security Council resolutions, while Japan said it threatened "peace and safety" in the region.
The Thursday launch, one of nearly a dozen North Korean weapons tests so far this year, marked a dramatic return to long-range testing by the nuclear-armed country.
Kim said that the new weapon would "creditably perform its mission and duty as a powerful nuclear war deterrent", according to KCNA.
He "remarked with pride that the emergence of the new strategic weapon of the DPRK would make the whole world clearly aware of the power of our strategic armed forces once again", KCNA reported.
KCNA said that the successful test-firing of the Hwasong-17 meant North Korea was ready for long-term confrontation with the United States.
Kim said his country now has "formidable military and technical capabilities unperturbed by any military threat and blackmail" and would be "fully ready for long-standing confrontation with the US imperialists", KCNA reported.
