The DPRK aims to build the world’s most powerful strategic nuclear force and possess “unprecedented absolute” power to protect the dignity and sovereignty of the North Korean people and state, leader Kim Jong-un said on the occasion of the promotion to military ranks of leaders and scientists from the defence research field.
He thanked the leaders and rank-and-file scientists of the defence research field who successfully developed and improved the new type of Hwasong-17 ICBM, “the world’s most powerful strategic weapon”, and achieved an “astonishing leap” in the development of the country’s nuclear weapons.
North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile towards the Sea of Japan on November 18. North Korea said the Hwasong-17 type missile flew 999.2 kilometres at a maximum altitude of 6,040.9 kilometres and hit a target area in the Sea of Japan. The flight time was 4,135 seconds (almost 69 minutes). Tokyo confirmed that the ICBM landed 200 kilometres off the island of Oshima near Hokkaido within Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
According to South Korea, the missile flew on a lofted trajectory. A lofted trajectory means a more vertical missile launch, which allows for a shorter flight distance. According to Japan’s DOD analysis, a conventional trajectory would have allowed the missile to travel 15,000 kilometres and reach U.S. territory.