Kim Jong Un is celebrating the latest test of what North Korea called the ‘world’s most powerful strategic weapon’.
An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), dubbed Hwasong-19, flew 622 milles at a peak altitude of 4,777 miles before landing in the sea of the Korean peninsula.
The dictator called the country’s longest ballistic missile test – with a flight time of 87 minutes – a clear success,
He also called a warning to North Korea’s enemies, even if it was launched at such a sharp angle to limit political fallout from countries like Japan, South Korea and the USA, who condemned the test.
State news agency KCNA said: ‘The test-fire is an appropriate military action that fully meets the purpose of informing the rivals, who have intentionally escalated the regional situation and posed a threat to the security of our Republic recently, of our counteraction will.’
Roughly 8,000 North Korean soldiers are stationed along Russia’s border with Ukraine, US secretary of state Antony Blinken said today.
They are mostly in the Kursk region, partially occupied by Ukraine since a surprise offensive in August.
North Korea has already sent millions of artillery shells and missiles to aid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Such an escalation of Kim Jong Un’s support for fellow dictator, President Vladimir Putin, may earn it missile technology from Russia in return, South Korea fears.
It comes amid rising tensions between between the two Koreas, with Kim Jong Un ditching his father and grandfather’s dream of peaceful reunification earlier this year.
Symbolising the south’s new status as its ‘invariable principal enemy’, North Korea blew up roads once linking it with South Korea this month.
North Korea has also erected anti-tank barriers along with border, over which it has sent balloons armed with rubbish and feces.
Although North Korea has previously halted its nuclear missile programmes during negotiations it now shuns, weapons tests have soared since 2022.
This latest test seems intended to display North Korea’s military might, and its status as the only one of the two countries with nuclear weapons in its arsenal.
Shin Seung-ki, head of research on North Korea’s military at the state-run Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, said: ‘The intention may be to show that it will not bow to pressure, that it will respond to strength with strength, and also to seek some influence on the U.S. presidential election.’
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