The Korean Central News Agency reported today (19) that President Kim Jong-un provided field guidance at the test launch site of the new Hwasong-17 ICBM yesterday.
According to the report, President Kim said after the test firing that the Hwasong-17 launch reaffirmed that North Korea’s nuclear strength ensured the strongest and most reliable capability to deter any nuclear threat.
He added, “If the enemy continues to threaten us by introducing means of nuclear attack, we will resolutely respond with nuclear weapons and head-to-head confrontations.”
Earlier, the South Korean military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff announced that it had detected an ICBM launched into the East Sea from Pyongyang’s Sunan area around 10:15 yesterday.
It was detected at a flight distance of approximately 1,000 km, an altitude of approximately 6,100 km and a speed of approximately Mach 22.
The launch of North Korea’s ICBM comes 15 days after the launch of an ICBM allegedly a “Hwasong-17” in Sunan, Pyongyang on the morning of the 3rd.
