Kim Jong Un threatens America with ‘world’s most powerful weapon’

North Korea says it has tested a new intercontinental ballistic missile which it claimed is the ‘world’s most powerful strategic deterrent’. The launch marked the country’s longest ever ballistic missile test, with a flight-time of 87 minutes, according to South Korea, while state media in the North gloated that it set new records for its missile capabilities.

Dictator Kim Jong Un attended the launch and said the test was a warning to enemies that have been threatening the country’s security, KCNA state news agency 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,’ Kim reportedly warned.

The launch drew swift condemnation from the United States, Japan and South Korea, with Seoul warning Pyongyang could get missile technology from Russia for helping with the war in Ukraine. The muscle-flexing comes amid a storm of international condemnation and rising alarm over what the US and others say is North Korea’s deployment of 11,000 troops to Russia – 3,000 of them close to the western frontlines with Ukraine.

A day earlier, Seoul reported signs the North may test-launch an ICBM or conduct a seventh nuclear test around the U.S. presidential election on Tuesday, seeking to draw attention to its growing military prowess. Shin Seung-ki, head of research on North Korea’s military at the state-run Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, said the launch was likely to test improved booster performance of an existing ICBM – possibly with the help of Russia. ‘North Korea will want to keep getting help like this, because it saves times and costs while improving performance and upgrading the stability of weapons system,’ he said.

Having come under pressure over its engagement with Russia, ‘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 US presidential election,’ Shin added. The launch early on Thursday saw the missile take off on a sharply lofted trajectory from an area near the North’s capital, before it splashed down about 125 miles west of Japan’s Okushiri island, off Hokkaido. It reached an altitude of around 4,300 miles (7,000 km) and flew a distance of 620 miles (1,000 km), the Japanese government said.

The so-called lofted trajectory of a projectile flying at a sharply raised angle is intended to test its thrust and stability over much shorter distances relative to the designed range, partly for safety and to avoid the political fallout of sending a missile far into the Pacific. North Korea’s last ICBM, dubbed the Hwasong-18, was tested in December last year. Fuelled by solid-propellant and fired from a road launcher, it was also launched at a sharply raised angle and flew for 73 minutes, translating to a potential range of 9,300 miles (15,000) on a normal trajectory.

That is a distance that puts anywhere in the mainland United States within range. Pyongyang’s latest test came just hours after U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin (pictured) and his South Korean counterpart Kim Yong-hyun met in Washington to condemn the North Korean troop deployment in Russia.

Neither Moscow or Pyongyang have directly acknowledged the deployment, but Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia on Wednesday questioned why its allies like North Korea could not help Moscow in its war against Ukraine given Western countries claim the right to help Kyiv. South Korea said the deployment was a direct threat to its security because the North would gain valuable combat experience in a modern warfare and it will likely be rewarded by Moscow with ‘technology transfers’ in areas such as tactical nuclear weapons, ICBMs, ballistic missile submarines and military reconnaissance satellites.

North Korea has made strides in its missile technologies in recent years, but many foreign experts believe the country has yet to acquire a functioning nuclear-armed missile that can strike the US mainland. They say North Korea likely possesses short-range missiles that can deliver nuclear strikes across all of South Korea.

One of the technological hurdles North Korea still faces is for its weapons to be capable of surviving the harsh conditions of atmospheric re-entry. South Korean officials and experts earlier said North Korea may test-launch an ICBM on a normal angle to verify that capability. North Korea last test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile in December 2023, when it launched the solid-fuelled Hwasong-18.

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