MISSILE A BLAST FOR KIM

NORTH Korea said yesterday the missile it launched over the weekend was a new type of “medium long- range” ballistic rocket that can carry a heavy nuclear warhead.

Jubilant leader Kim Jong Un promised more nuclear and missile tests and warned that North Korean weapons could strike the US mainland and Pacific holdings.

North Korean propaganda must be considered with wariness – Pyongyang has threatened for decades to reduce Seoul to a “sea of fire,” for instance – but yesterday’s claim, if confirmed, would mark another big advance toward the North’s goal of fielding a nuclear- tipped missile capable of reaching the US mainland.

Some experts, including officials in Tokyo, estimate that Sunday’s launch successfully tested a new type of missile in Pyongyang’s arsenal. The test is also an immediate challenge to South Korea’s new leader, Moon Jae- in, a liberal elected last week who has expressed a desire to reach out to North Korea.

Pyongyang’s aggressive push to boost its weapons program also makes it one of the Trump administration’s most urgent foreign policy worries.

North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency called the missile a “new ground- to- ground medium long- range strategic ballistic rocket,” and said the “Hwasong- 12” was “capable of carrying a large, heavy nuclear warhead.”

Kim Jong Un witnessed the test and “hugged officials in the field of rocket research, saying that they worked hard to achieve a great thing,” according to KCNA.