N. Korea boasts about new long-range missile, calls it 'world's strongest'

SEOUL, South Korea — 

North Korea connected Friday bragged astir its precocious tested caller intercontinental ballistic missile, calling it "the world's strongest." Outside experts saw the assertion arsenic propaganda, though the trial did amusement advancement successful the North's quest to physique a much reliable weapons arsenal.

A rocket that North Korea launched Thursday flew higher and stayed successful the aerial longer than immoderate different limb the state has truthful acold fired. It signaled that the North has achieved advancement successful acquiring a nuclear-armed ICBM that tin deed the U.S. mainland. But overseas experts said the state has inactive a fewer technological issues to master.

On Friday, the North's Korean Central News Agency identified the rocket arsenic the "Hwasong-19" ICBM and called it "the world's strongest strategical missile" and "the perfected limb system."

KCNA said person Kim Jong Un observed the launch, describing it arsenic "an due subject action" to explicit North Korea's resoluteness to respond to its enemies' moves that escalated tensions and threats to North Korea's nationalist security. It said Kim thanked weapons scientists for demonstrating North Korea's "matchless strategical atomic onslaught capability."

South Korea's subject earlier said that North Korea could person tested a solid-fuel missile, but Friday's KCNA dispatch didn't accidental what propellant the Hwasong-19 ICBM uses. Observers said the colour of exhaust flames seen successful North Korean media photos of the motorboat suggested the caller ICBM uses coagulated fuels.

Before Thursday's test, North Korea's astir precocious ICBM was known arsenic the Hwasong-18 missile, which uses coagulated fuels.

Pre-loaded coagulated propellants marque it easier to determination missiles and necessitate overmuch little motorboat mentation times than liquid propellants that indispensable beryllium fueled earlier liftoffs. So it's much hard for opponents to observe launches by solid-fuel missiles.

In caller years, North Korea has reported dependable advancement successful its efforts to get nuclear-tipped missiles. Many overseas experts judge North Korea apt has missiles that tin present atomic strikes connected each of South Korea, but it has yet to person atomic missiles that tin question to the mainland U.S.

There are questions astir whether North Korea has acquired the exertion to shield warheads from the high-temperature, high-stress situation of atmospheric reentry. Many overseas analysts accidental North Korea besides indispensable amended altitude power and guidance systems for missiles. They accidental North Korea needs the quality to spot aggregate warheads connected a azygous rocket to decision its rivals' rocket defenses.

All of North Korea's known ICBM tests, including Thursday's, person been performed astatine steep angles to debar neighboring countries. South Korean subject spokesperson Lee Sung Joon said Thursday that a high-angle trajectory motorboat cannot verify a missile's re-entry conveyance technology, though North Korea has antecedently claimed to person acquired that technology.

Observers accidental that Thursday's launch, the North's archetypal ICBM trial successful astir a year, was mostly meant to drawback American attraction days earlier the U.S. statesmanlike predetermination and respond to planetary condemnation of North Korea's reported dispatch of troops to Russia to enactment Moscow's warfare against Ukraine.

North Korea's reported unit dispatch highlights the expanding subject practice betwixt North Korea and Russia. South Korea. the U.S. and others interest North Korea mightiness question high-tech, delicate Russian exertion to cleanable its atomic and rocket programs successful instrumentality for joining the Russia-Ukraine war.