A longer-range solid fuel ICBM has long been on Leader Kim Jong-un’s weapons wish list.
North Korea has announced the successful test of its first solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), a key goal of Leader Kim Jong-un’s plan to develop more advanced and powerful weapons.
The test was discovered on Thursday by South Korea and Japan, who briefly ordered residents of the northern island of Hokkaido to evacuate.
North Korean state media confirmed the launch of the missile, dubbed the Hwasong-18, on Friday morning.
The event was hosted by Kim, who was accompanied by his young daughter.
“A new type of intercontinental ballistic missile was tested on Thursday as the main means of strategic military force,” said Korea’s official Central News Agency (KCNA), describing the test as a “marvelous success”.
The news agency quoted Kim as saying that the Hwasong-18 would quickly advance North Korea’s nuclear response stance and support an aggressive military strategy that promises “atomic bomb for nuclear bomb and all-out confrontation for all-out confrontation” against its maintain rivals. .
“The Hwasong-18 weapon system that will be operated by the country’s strategic forces would play its mission and role to defend (North Korea), deter invasions, and maintain the country’s security as the most powerful method” , said KCNA.
Solid-fuel rockets are safer to use, easier to maneuver and faster to deploy than liquid-fueled variants, which must be loaded at the launch site and were a key part of a five-year weapons development plan Kim unveiled in 2021.
Despite a United Nations ban on ballistic missile testing, North Korea has conducted numerous launches in recent years to boost its military prowess.
Last year it tested a record number of weapons, including a powerful solid-fuel engine, and in February it showed off what appeared to be a new ICBM during a lavish nighttime parade in Pyongyang.
“This is a major breakthrough for the North Koreans, but not an unexpected one,” said Ankit Panda, an expert with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
“Because these missiles are fueled at the time of manufacture and thus ready for use when needed, they will be much quicker to deploy in a crisis or conflict, depriving South Korea and the United States of valuable time that is useful could be to preemptively hunt and destroy such missiles.”
North Korea has pointed to large-scale military exercises between South Korea and the United States to justify its latest series of tests, claiming that such exercises are rehearsals for an invasion.
Washington and Seoul say their exercises are defensive in nature and a result of North Korea’s increasing nuclear and missile threats.
The launch of Hwasong-18 comes two days before the country marks the birth of founder Kim Il Sung, one of North Korea’s most important holidays.
Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, said the days of North Korea masquerading ICBM activity as satellite launches are long gone and that Kim’s “flagrant violations” of UN Security Council resolutions showed that it was defeating its purpose. was to “make North Korea a full-fledged nuclear power and demand concessions from other countries”.
Denuclearization talks have stalled since 2019 when a high-profile summit between Kim and then-US President Donald Trump collapsed.
The Hwasong-18, which KCNA described as a three-stage missile, was fired from near Pyongyang and flew about 1,000 km (621 mi) before falling into waters east of North Korea.
North Korea has fired about 30 missiles in 12 different launches this year alone.
Kim has also ordered his army to step up exercises to prepare for a “real war”.