announced north korea That its most recent test was of a “solid-fuel” intercontinental ballistic missile, leader Kim Jong-un considered it a major step in Pyongyang’s ability to launch a nuclear counterattack.
And North Korea’s official news agency reported that the “Hwasong-18” intercontinental missile was tested Thursday, noting that it represents the “main means of strategic military force.”
Kim said that the development of ICBMs “will greatly reorganize our strategic deterrence, and enhance the effectiveness of our nuclear counterattack,” according to KCNA.
All of the ICBMs that North Korea has launched so far are liquid-fueled.
Solid-fuel missiles, which Pyongyang has long sought to develop, show greater stability and are faster to prepare for launch than liquid-fuel missiles, making them more difficult for US forces to detect and destroy.
“flagrant breach”
The United States “strongly” condemned North Korea’s launch Thursday of a “long-range ballistic missile,” the White House said.
“This launch flagrantly violates many UN Security Council resolutions, unnecessarily increases tensions, and threatens to destabilize security in the region,” said Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council.
She added that “the United States will take all necessary measures to ensure” its security and the security of its allies, South Korea and Japan.
In a statement condemning the missile test, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Pyongyang to “reopen channels of communication and resume dialogue” in order to establish peace and completely denuclearize the Korean Peninsula.
In Paris, French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anne-Claire Legendre called for a “firm and unified response from the international community” to the North Korean missile test.
On the other hand, China condemned the “negative” role of the United States in fueling tension on the Korean Peninsula.
“The current cycle of tensions (…) has its reasons. The negative impact of previous US military exercises and the deployment of strategic weapons around the (Korean) peninsula is clear to all,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters, calling on all parties to “remain calm.” and restraint.”
The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said that work is underway to analyze the details of the launch.
And Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced Thursday that the missile launched by North Korea “did not fall on Japanese territory.”
For his part, Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada told the press that the missile “is likely to be an ICBM,” noting that its trajectory was “severely inclined to the east.”
North Korean missiles have repeatedly flown over Japan in the past. The missile launch caused a brief alert on Hokkaido, in the northern Japanese archipelago.