The leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un, in an undated photo. Military experts in the region say that the country is still years away from achieving capabilities that it has claimed, like striking the continental United States, as well as its military bases in the Pacific.
KOREAN CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY, VIA AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea said on Monday that it had successfully tested a new nuclear-capable intermediate-range ballistic missile, claiming important progress in being able to strike its enemies with long-range missiles tipped with nuclear warheads.
Confirming the missile test detected by the United States and South Korean authorities on Sunday, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said it had launched an intermediate-range surface-to-surface ballistic missile named Pukguksong-2, or Polaris-2. North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, inspected the test, the news agency said.
“He expressed great satisfaction over the possession of another powerful nuclear attack means, which adds to the tremendous might of the country,” the news agency said, using its typically boastful tone.
The United Nations Security Council plans to hold an urgent meeting Monday on the missile launch at the request of the United States, Japan and South Korea.
The Korean Central News Agency reported that the missile, which it said could carry a nuclear warhead, used a high-thrust, solid fuel-powered engine and was fired from a self-propelled missile launching truck.
That is an important stride for North Korea as it pushes ahead with its proclaimed goal of building a capability to attack the United States with an intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM.
North Korea has never test-fired an ICBM. But the successful test of the Pukguksong-2 reflected a considerable enhancement of the North’s missile capabilities. The country has had a spotty record in test-launching the Musudan, which had been the North’s only known intermediate-range ballistic missile until the Pukguksong-2 was unveiled on Sunday. Its last Musudan test, in October, ended in failure.
The use of a solid fuel-powered engine is also an important advance for the North. Most of its ballistic missiles rely on liquid fuel. But the use of solid fuel greatly shortens the time needed to prepare the missile for launch and increases its mobility on the road, making it harder to detect signs of an impending attack, according to military analysts.
“Now our rocket industry has radically turned into high-thrust solid fuel-powered engine from liquid-fuel rocket engine and rapidly developed into a development- and creation-oriented industry, not just copying samples,” Mr. Kim was quoted as saying.
On Sunday, the South Korean military said the North Korean missile was launched from the northwestern town of Banghyon and flew 310 miles before landing in the sea between the North and Japan. It reached an altitude of 340 miles, the military said, adding that it believed the missile was a modified version of the North’s intermediate-range Musudan missile.
The Musudan uses liquid fuel.
North Korea said the new missile was based on the solid-fuel Polaris, the country’s first submarine-launched ballistic missile, or SLBM. After several failed attempts, the North said in August that it had successfully launched the SLBM, claiming that the continental United States, as well as American military bases in the Pacific, were now within the range of its missiles, an assertion that military experts questioned.
Analysts and defense officials in the region said that North Korea was still years away from achieving the capability that Mr. Kim claimed. The country still does not have submarines large and advanced enough to travel long distances to attack distant targets across the Pacific without being detected, they said.
But the North’s tests of SLBMs and the Pukguksong-2 demonstrated the advances the secretive country had made in its efforts to enhance the range and stealth of its missiles, South Korean military officials said. On Monday, North Korea said it launched its Pukguksong-2 at a sharp angle to keep it from landing too close to Japan, indicating that it could have flown further than 310 miles if it had launched it at a normal angle.
“Thanks to the development of the new strategic weapon system, our People’s Army is capable of performing its strategic duties most accurately and rapidly in any space: under waters or on the land,” the North said.
Although North Korea has never fired an intercontinental ballistic missile across the Pacific, it has boasted of successfully testing crucial technologies in the past year. In March, it reported the successful ground test of a newly designed solid fuel rocket engine. A month later, it reported a successful ground test of a new intercontinental ballistic missile engine.
Mr. Kim reminded the region of his missile threats during his New Year’s Day speech, in which he claimed that his country was in a “final stage” of preparing to conduct its first test of an intercontinental ballistic missile. North Korea later said it could flight-test one “anytime, anywhere.”
When he visited South Korea this month on his first official trip abroad, Jim Mattis, the United States defense secretary, emphasized the importance of deploying an advanced missile defense system, known as Thaad, in the country this year to counter the North Korean threat
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