Kim, daughter view ICBM launch
>>SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un oversaw a test of Pyongyang’s newest intercontinental ballistic missile with his young daughter in tow for the first time, state media reported yesterday.
Declaring he would meet perceived US nuclear threats with nukes of his own, Mr Kim supervised the launch on Friday of the black-and-white missile, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said was the Hwasong-17 — dubbed the “monster missile” by analysts.
The launch was successful, KCNA said, adding that the “test-fire clearly proved the reliability of the new major strategic weapon system”.
KCNA said Mr Kim attended the launch “together with his beloved daughter and wife”, and state media images showed a beaming Mr Kim accompanied by a young girl in a puffer jacket and red shoes as he walked in front of the missile.
Pyongyang’s state media has never mentioned Mr Kim’s children, and this was the first official confirmation that he had a daughter, experts said.
The latest launch shows that “the nuclear forces of the DPRK have secured another reliable and maximum capacity to contain any nuclear threat”, KCNA said, using the country’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Since Mr Kim declared North Korea an “irreversible” nuclear state in September, Washington has ramped up regional security cooperation, including its largest-ever joint air exercises with South Korea.
The South Korean military said it staged joint air drills with the United States yesterday involving the US B-1B long-range heavy bomber — which was deployed to the Korean peninsula for a separate joint exercise earlier this month.
Mr Kim slammed what he called “hysteric aggression war drills” and said that if America continued to make threats against the North, Pyongyang would “resolutely react to nukes with nuclear weapons and to total confrontation with all-out confrontation”, KCNA reported.
North Korea has conducted a record-breaking blitz of launches in recent weeks, which Pyongyang, and Moscow, have repeatedly blamed on US moves to boost the protection it offers allies Seoul and Tokyo.
The presence of the country’s first family provided “greater strength and courage in the dynamic advance for bolstering up the state nuclear strategic forces”, KCNA reported.
KCNA said the missile hit a maximum altitude of 6,040.9 kilometres and flew 999.2km, matching estimates by Seoul and Tokyo on Friday.
North Korea previously claimed to have launched a Hwasong-17, its most powerful missile to date, on March 24, but Seoul later cast doubt on that claim.
This time, analysts said it seemed the North had succeeded.