Days before the US election, the US, South Korea, and Japan detected the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which is thought to be a new, more agile rocket.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un stated in a statement issued by state media: “I affirm that the DPRK [North Korea] will never change its line of bolstering up its nuclear forces.”…
The missile launch, he continued, was “an appropriate military action” following the “intentional escalation of the regional situation” by North Korea’s “rivals.”
North Korea had “displayed the modernity and creditability of its world’s most powerful strategic deterrent,” according to the statement.
According to South Korea, the early Thursday launch marked North Korea’s longest ballistic missile test, with a flight duration of 87 minutes.
According to Seoul’s joint chiefs of military, the rocket was a novel kind of ICBM powered by solid fuel.
Gen. Nakatani, Japan’s defense minister, told reporters that the missile’s flight time and top altitude of about 7,000 kilometers (4,350 miles) were longer than those of earlier North Korean missile tests.
