North Korean officials announced that they launched the "Hwasong-17" intercontinental ballistic missile Kim Jong-un on-site guidance

Yonhap News Agency, Seoul, November 19 (KCNA) reported on the 19th that North Korea launched a new type of Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) under the guidance of Chairman Kim Jong-un yesterday.

According to the report, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea tested the 18th nuclear weapon, one of its strategic weapons, on the 18th under the strict implementation of the national defense construction strategy, which is the top priority of our party and the government of the Republic, to continuously enhance the super-strong and absolute nuclear deterrence. New intercontinental ballistic missile. Kim Jong-un guides the missile launch on the spot. After the test, Kim Jong-un said that we reconfirmed that our nuclear force is another reliable and strongest capability that can deter any nuclear threat.

Kim Jong-un said that the military threat from the United States and hostile forces around North Korea has become increasingly prominent recently, and the situation full of risks urgently requires us to actually accelerate the improvement of overwhelming nuclear deterrence. Under the current situation, it is necessary for us to let the United States and South Korea (South Korea) and other following forces clearly understand that the military response against us is self-destruction, and we must make wise choices to improve their security environment.

The report also stated that Kim Jong-un pointed out that our party and government should clearly show their strong will to retaliate against the aggressive war exercises of the enemy who intends to destroy the Korean Peninsula (Korean Peninsula) and regional peace and stability. Extending deterrence, and obsessing over war games and bravado on the Korean peninsula and surrounding areas, the more aggressive our military response will become. If the enemy frequently uses nuclear strikes and continues to threaten, our party and government have solemnly clarified that they will fight back by "nuclear control of nuclear weapons" in a positive way.

The report also introduced that the new intercontinental ballistic missile "Hwasong Cannon-17" launched from Pyongyang International Airport had a maximum shooting height of 6,040.9 kilometers, a flight distance of 999.2 kilometers, and a flight time of 4,135 seconds. The purpose of this test launch is to check the "credibility of the weapon system" and "operational reliability." Through the launch results, the credibility of the new important strategic weapon system that will become my country's representative and the world's strongest strategic weapon has been verified. combat performance.

In addition, the report also introduced that Kim Jong-un, his children and his wife Li Xuezhu conducted an on-site observation. This is the first time that North Korean media have reported on the public appearance of Kim Jong-un's daughter. From the pictures published in the report, it can be seen that the girl in white winter clothes took Kim Jong-un's hand and walked past the missiles placed on the test site and watched the launch site.

Cho Yong-won, organization secretary of the Central Committee of the Labor Party, Li Il-hwan, secretary of the Party Central Committee, Jeon Hyun-chul, Li Chung-gil, minister of science and education of the party, Kim Jong-sik, vice-minister of military supplies industry, and others accompanied Kim Jong-un to guide him.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (Joint Staff) stated on the 18th that North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile into the eastern sea at about 10:15 a.m. that day from the Sun'an area of Pyongyang City. Its missiles shoot at an altitude of about 6,100 kilometers, have a flight distance of about 1,000 kilometers, and a flight speed of about Mach 22. The South Korean army and experts generally commented that the "Hwasong-17" intercontinental ballistic missile launched by North Korea can strike the entire territory of the United States, and North Korea's missile technology has made considerable progress. Based on this, it is speculated that the possibility of North Korea's seventh nuclear test has further increased.

This is the first intercontinental missile launched by North Korea in 15 days after it launched a suspected "Hwasong-17" intercontinental missile in the Pyongyang Sunan area on the 3rd of this month. The last time an intercontinental missile was launched, although the inter-stage separation was completed, it failed to fly normally and fell into the East China Sea and ended in failure. North Korea may have kept quiet about the projectile the day after the launch in light of this. However, this time the North Korean media reported on the projectile in a large number of pages, reflecting their confidence in the successful launch. (Finish)

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