Click to see full-size image. (The Korean Central News Agency)
North Korea tested a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on October 31, a launch believed to have achieved the longest flight time yet for a missile produced by the country.
A day after the test, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) identified the missile as the “Hwasong-19” ICBM and called it “the world’s strongest strategic missile” and “the perfected weapon system.”
KCNA said that leader Kim Jong Un observed the launch, describing it as “an appropriate military action” to express North Korea’s resolve to respond to its enemies’ moves that escalated tensions and threats to the national security of North Korea.
It added that Kim thanked weapons scientists for demonstrating North Korea’s “matchless strategic nuclear attack capability.”
The Hwasong-19 was launched just days before the United States presidential election, and after warnings from South Korea’s intelligence agency that Pyongyang was planning to launch an ICBM to test its reentry technology.
The new missile reached a maximum altitude of 7,688 kilometers and flew a distance of 1,001 kilometers, according to KCNA.
Citing Japanese authorities, public broadcaster NHK said that the North Korean missile flew for about 86 minutes and to a possible altitude of 7,000 kilometers, before falling into the sea west of Okushiri Island in northern Hokkaido, outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
“The flight time was the longest ever. Possibly the newest missile ever,” Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said.
Meanwhile, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the missile was fired at “a lofted angle,” meaning it flew almost vertically upwards rather than out, and traveled a distance of 1,000 kilometers.
Lee Sung-joon, a spokesman for JCS, said that it could have been a “new-type solid-propelled long-range ballistic missile” fired from a 12-axis mobile launcher (TEL) which Pyongyang revealed last month.
Solid propellants make it easier to move missiles and require much less launch preparation times than liquid propellants that must be fueled before firing.
The White House condemned the North Korean missile test as “a flagrant violation of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions.”
U.S. National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett said that the launch “needlessly raises tensions” in the region and that the Washington would “take all necessary measures to ensure the security of the American homeland and Republic of Korea and Japanese allies.”
Click to see full-size image. (The Korean Central News Agency)
In response to the missile test, South Korea Defense Ministry said that it will hold a joint large-scale air drill with the U.S. The drill will involve some 110 warplanes and simulated “precise striking of enemy’s TEL,” it added.
“Our military will always maintain preparedness and capability to respond overwhelmingly to any provocation by North Korea,” the ministry said.
Tensions between the north and south began to rise earlier in October. Kim called South Korea “a foreign country and an apparent hostile country” after North Korea accused Seoul of sending drones over Pyongyang that scattered a “huge number” of anti-North leaflets.
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reminds me of when jfk told nikita khrushchev “we have enough weapons to kill you three times over” khrushchev replied ” we have enough to kill you once and that is enough for me” so it may soon be with dprk.
in my 4th world us colony we launch lego dildos
you gae @ss.
the us can thank the neocons, bolton and pompeus who sabotaged trump’s rapprochement and historic meeting with north korea in 2019.
there could have been an agreement with nk to end its nuclear programme in the 1990s. during obama’s term there was an equitable agreement on the table, but bush and the neocons deliberately sabotaged it. then trumpo sabotaged the jcpoa with iran. result – nk now a major nuclear power. iran probably wii be soon. the amerikunts made their bed – now they can lie on it.