The Hwasong-17 is the most important road-mobile, liquid-fuelled ICBM on the earth.

North Korea has confirmed it fired an intercontinental ballistic missile and that it was the Hwasong-17, referred to as the nation’s “monster missile”.

The launch of the banned missile was detected by neighbours South Korea and Japan on Thursday, hours earlier than South Korean President Yook Suk-yeol was resulting from fly to Tokyo for a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

It was the most recent in a collection of weapons checks which have coincided with Freedom Defend – the large-scale joint army workout routines between the USA and South Korea that started on Monday and that Pyongyang regards as a rehearsal for invasion.

Confirming the ICBM take a look at on Friday, North Korea’s state media mentioned it was supposed to reveal a “robust response posture” and was a response to the “provocative and aggressive” army drills.

Pyongyang mentioned the missile travelled at a most altitude of some 6,000 km (3,700 miles) and flew some 1,000 km (620 miles) “earlier than precisely touchdown on the preset space within the open waters off the East Sea of Korea,” often known as the Sea of Japan.

Photographs accompanying the stories in state media confirmed North Korean chief Kim Jong Un watching the launch along with his daughter and included footage from area apparently shot by a digital camera mounted on the missile.

“The launching drill of the strategic weapon serves as an event to present a stronger warning to the enemies deliberately escalating the stress within the Korean peninsula whereas persistently resorting to irresponsible and reckless army threats,” state information company KCNA mentioned.

Seoul and Washington have ramped up defence cooperation within the face of rising army and nuclear threats from North Korea, which performed a document variety of weapons checks in 2022 because it steps up its army modernisation marketing campaign.

This week it has examined short-range ballistic missiles and strategic cruise missiles from a submarine.

Ballistic missile checks are banned below United Nations Safety Council resolutions over North Korea’s nuclear programme.

The Hwasong-17 is North Korea’s greatest missile and is the most important road-mobile, liquid-fuelled ICBM on the earth.

It’s believed to have the vary to ship a nuclear warhead to targets anyplace within the US.

It was first examined in March final yr, marking North Korea’s first ICBM launch since 2017.