North says it test-fired solid-fuel ICBM, South confirms it

North Korea on Friday said it successfully tested a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) for the first time, marking significant progress in its missile program.

North Korea carries out its first test of a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Thursday. [YONHAP]

North Korea on Friday said it successfully tested a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) for the first time, marking significant progress in its missile program.

The South Korean military confirmed that the North test-fired a solid-fuel ICBM but said the regime would need more “time and effort” to complete the technology, hinting at additional tests.

It’s the first time the North test-fired an ICBM using solid propellants.

Compared to liquid-fuel missiles, a solid-fuel missile is considered easier and safer to operate, and harder to detect.

The South Korean military says the launch took place near Pyongyang at around 7:23 a.m. Thursday.

The North’s state Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Friday that the so-called Hwasong-18 was deliberately launched at a steep angle in consideration of the security of the neighboring countries and landed in waters off its east coast in two stages.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who guided the launch, was said to have expressed great satisfaction.

Photos that ran with the KCNA report showed Kim and his wife, daughter and younger sister. The missile was shown loaded onto a mobile launcher and leaving a concrete tunnel to be launched in an open field.

In an English-language version of the KCNA report, Kim was quoted as affirming that the North would “constantly strike extreme uneasiness and horror” in enemy states until they abandon their “senseless thinking and reckless acts.”

In a separate KCNA report, Kim was said to have highly praised the workers who developed Hwasong-18, proposing the conferment of the title of “Labor Hero” on 10 of them.

He also ordered that vice-director of the General Missile Bureau, a colonel, be promoted to major general.

North Korea’s launch of a new ICBM came just two days before its biggest holiday, the Day of the Sun, which celebrates the birthday of the late North Korean founder, Kim Il Sung.

It also came six days after it severed communication with the South through inter-Korean hotlines, which were meant to prevent accidental military clashes and maintain a channel for dialogue.

North Korea has a long history of ghosting Seoul, but this marks the first time during the Yoon Suk Yeol administration that the routine calls on the hotlines have gone unanswered.

Analysts presume Pyongyang is fed up with Seoul due mainly to its recent combined military exercise with Washington.

Pyongyang has also warned of launching a reconnaissance satellite later this month.

BY LEE SUNG-EUN [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]