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NK leader says ICBM launch shows what option he has if US makes wrong decision

North Korea fires a Hwasong-18 solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on July 12 in this file photo released by the North's official Korean Central News Agency. Yonhap

North Korea confirmed Tuesday it test-fired a Hwasong-18 solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) the previous day, with leader Kim Jong-un saying the launch showed what option he would take "when Washington makes a wrong decision."

The missile launch was conducted to "take a powerful warning measure under the grave situation, in which the hostile forces' anti-DPRK military threat ... is getting evermore undisguised and dangerous," the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, referring to the North by its official name.

The ICBM flew 1,002.3 kilometers for 4,415 seconds at a maximum altitude of 6,518.2 km before "accurately" hitting the East Sea, the KCNA said.

Experts said the missile would have flown more than 15,000 km, long enough to strike any part of the continental United States, had it been fired on a normal trajectory.

Kim expressed great satisfaction with the launch, saying it was "a practical demonstration of the actual condition and reliability of the formidable striking capabilities and absolute nuclear war deterrent possessed by the DPRK's armed forces," the KCNA said.

"Noting that it was an occasion to clearly show what action the DPRK has been prepared and what option the DPRK would take when Washington makes a wrong decision against it, he appreciated that the drill once again and strikingly displayed the DPRK's will for toughest counteraction and its overwhelming strength," it said.

Kim also stressed the need for the North to strongly counter the military threats of the enemies "with more offensive actions by adopting a more evolutionary and threatening way when the enemies continue to make a wrong choice," the KCNA said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspects the launch of a Hwasong-18 solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile, Dec. 18., in this photo released by the North's official Korean Central News Agency. Yonhap

Photos released by state media showed Kim observing the launch alongside his daughter, known as Ju-ae, who had appeared in ceremonies celebrating the North's spy satellite launch last month.

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Also among the photos were images of Earth, presumed to be taken from the Hwasong-18, and a transporter erector launcher carrying the missile ahead of its launch.

The North made clear the latest ICBM launch was a show of force against strengthened efforts by Seoul and Washington to advance their nuclear strategy against Pyongyang's threats.

"The U.S. and the military gangsters of the Republic of Korea held a nuclear war confab called the second meeting of the 'Nuclear Consultative Group' in Washington and openly revealed their intention to conduct large-scale joint drills under the simulated conditions of an actual war of 'nuclear retaliatory strike' at the DPRK," the KCNA said.

During the NCG meeting last week, South Korea and the U.S. agreed to complete the establishment of guidelines on a shared nuclear strategy by the middle of next year and conduct joint military exercises simulating nuclear attacks from the North.

The KCNA also lashed out at the arrival of the U.S. nuclear-powered submarine USS Missouri in Busan, 320 km southeast of Seoul, as an "extremely provocative action" to turn the Korean Peninsula "into an assembly base for all the U.S. nuclear strategic assets."

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, left, and his daughter Ju-ae, second from L, inspect the launch of a Hwasong-18 solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), Dec. 18, in this photo released by the North's official Korean Central News Agency. Yonhap

The national security advisers of South Korea, U.S. and Japan have condemned North Korea's ICBM launch as a "flagrant" breach of U.N. Security Council resolutions and underscored the importance of their work to share missile warning data, which the three countries have pledged to put into operation by the end of this year.

Earlier Tuesday, South Korea's defense ministry said the three countries have activated the real-time system and jointly established a multiyear plan for trilateral military drills as they seek to better counter evolving North Korean threats.

On Monday, South Korea's military said the North's missile flew about 1,000 kilometers at a lofted trajectory before landing in the East Sea.

It marked the North's fifth ICBM launch this year, the highest number ever recorded in a single year and the third Hwasong-18 solid-fuel ICBM launch following those in April and July.

Solid-fuel missiles are faster to shoot and harder to detect ahead of a launch. (Yonhap)