North Korea has announced that it successfully launched its its first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) since 2017 in a test on Thursday.
State media said it successfully launched its largest intercontinental ballistic missile called the Hwasong-17. It is a “new type” of intercontinental ballistic missile that is North Korea’s biggest to date.
North Korea’s official KCNA news agency says the Hwasong-17 flew 1,090 km (681 miles) at a maximum altitude of 6,248.5 km (3,905 miles) and hit a target in the Sea of Japan during the Thursday test.
It was in the air for 67.5 minutes.
The numbers are similar to data reported by Japan and South Korea.
Kim ordered the test because of the “daily-escalating military tension in and around the Korean peninsula” and the “inevitability of the long-standing confrontation with the US imperialists accompanied by the danger of a nuclear war,” the state-run KCNA news agency said.
KCNA called the successful test a “striking demonstration of great military muscle,” while Kim said it was a “miraculous” and “priceless” victory by the Korean people.
