SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un personally oversaw the successful test of the country's newest intercontinental ballistic missile, state media reported on Thursday, days after Pyongyang threatened to down any US spy planes that enter its airspace.
A beaming Kim, flanked by his wife and key aides, was shown in state media images applauding enthusiastically after the launch of the solid-fuel Hwasong-18 on Wednesday.
The ICBM, which North Korea has fired only once before, in April, flew 1,001 kilometres at a maximum altitude of 6,648 km before splashing into the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan, the official Korean Central News Agency reported.
The launch was a "grand explosion" that shook "the whole planet", KCNA said. State media footage showed the missile blasting off into the sky.
Kim vowed that "a series of stronger military offensive" would be launched until the United States and South Korea change their policies towards North Korea, the agency added.
Citing the "unstable situation" on the Korean peninsula, Kim also called for "more intense efforts" to boost North Korea's nuclear arsenal.
The confirmation of the launch — which the South Korean military had reported on Wednesday — came with relations between the two Koreas at one of their lowest points ever.
Diplomacy is stalled and Kim has called for ramping up weapons development, including tactical nukes.
In response, Seoul and Washington have boosted security cooperation, vowing that Pyongyang would face a nuclear response and the "end" of its current government were it to ever use its nuclear weapons against the allies.
Seoul described on Wednesday's launch as "a grave provocation that damages the peace and security of the Korean peninsula". The United Nations, the United States and its allies also strongly condemned it.
Japan's top government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters that the test appeared to be of the same solid-fuel ICBM missile first fired in April -- warning such missiles "have an advantage in immediate launch" over Pyongyang's liquid fuelled missiles.
Wednesday's test was conducted from a launchpad made to look like a natural park surrounded by ponds and trees at a Kim family private mansion on the east side of Pyongyang, Seoul-based specialist site NK News reported.
It came after North Korea on Monday accused a US spy plane of violating its airspace and condemned Washington's plans to deploy a nuclear missile submarine near the Korean peninsula. — AFP
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