North Korea said Tuesday it conducted a "launch drill" of a Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile to counter military threats by the United States, with leader Kim Jong Un observing it in person, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.
The report did not say when the drill was conducted but it is believed to refer to an ICBM launch toward the Sea of Japan that occurred on Monday. Tokyo said the missile has the potential to strike anywhere in the continental United States.
The missile traveled up to a maximum altitude of 6,518.2 kilometers and flew a distance of 1,002.3 km for over 73 minutes before accurately landing in the Sea of Japan, KCNA said, adding the drill had no negative effect on the security of neighboring countries.
Kim, who inspected the exercise with a girl believed to be his daughter Kim Ju Ae, said the launch was an occasion to clearly show what option North Korea would take "when Washington makes a wrong decision."
He set forth some new important tasks for accelerating the development of the country's nuclear strategic forces, the news agency said.
The Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the Workers' Party of Korea, said Tuesday the ICBM was a solid-fuel missile that does not require fueling before firing like a liquid-fuel missile.
Military experts say solid-fuel missiles make it harder for surveilling countries to detect launch preparations and give a better preemptive strike and retaliatory capability.
When North Korea previously launched solid-fuel Hwasong-18 ICBMs in April and July, state media described them as "test-firings."
North Korea criticized the second meeting of the Nuclear Consultative Group recently held between the United States and South Korea that discussed nuclear and strategic weapons operation plans. It also denounced the dispatch of the U.S. nuclear-powered submarine Missouri to Busan over the weekend.
Pyongyang called the U.S. submarine deployment "an extremely provocative action," posing a grave threat to the security environment of North Korea and the region, according to KCNA.
The United States, Japan and South Korea started operating their system to share North Korean missile warning data in real-time on Tuesday, as they look to strengthen their security cooperation amid threats from Pyongyang.
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