North Korea said Friday it has successfully test-launched a new intercontinental ballistic missile powered by solid propellants, a development that if confirmed could possibly provide the country with a harder-to-detect weapon targeting the continental United States.
North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency issued the report a day after its neighbours detected the launch from an area near its capital of Pyongyang, which added to a spate of testing that so far involved more than 100 missiles fired into sea since the start of 2022.
"Respected comrade Kim Jong Un said speeding up the development of evolving and more advanced and powerful weapons systems is our party and government's consistent policy to respond to military threats and worsening security situation on the Korean Peninsula," KCNA said. North Korea has tested various intercontinental ballistic missiles since 2017 that demonstrated potential range to reach the U.S. mainland, but its previous missiles were powered by liquid-fuel engines that need to be fuelled relatively shortly before launch, as they cannot remain fueled for prolonged periods.
"This is a significant breakthrough for the North Koreans, but not an unexpected one," Ankit Panda, an expert with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said. KCNA described the Hwasong-18 as a three-stage missile but it wasn't immediately clear whether the third stage was activated during the test. During the test, the missile's first stage was set to a mode that would support a standard ballistic trajectory but the second and third stages were programmed to fly on higher angles after separations to avoid the territories of neighborus, KCNA said.
The U.S. and South Korean militaries conducted their biggest field exercises in years last month and separately held joint naval and air force drills involving a U.S. aircraft carrier strike group and nuclear-capable U.S. bombers.
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