North Korea: President Kim personally supervises a ballistic missile launch

 North Korea announced - today, Thursday - that its leader Kim Jong Un "personally supervised the successful test of the latest solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile," ignoring the scheduled meeting of the UN Security Council later today to discuss the matter.

Days after Pyongyang threatened to shoot down any US spy planes that entered its airspace, Kim appeared - in pictures broadcast by state media - cheerful, dressed in a white suit, surrounded by his wife and key aides, and clapping enthusiastically after the launch of the solid fuel "Hwasong-18" yesterday.

The official Korean News Agency stated that this intercontinental missile, which was launched only once before, last April, flew 1,001 km, at a maximum altitude of 6,648 km, before falling into the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan.

The agency said the launch was "a colossal explosion that shook the entire planet." State media footage showed the missile taking off into the sky, adding that Kim vowed to launch a "series of powerful military strikes" until United States and South Korea change their policies toward his country.

Referring to the "unstable situation" on the Korean Peninsula, Kim also called for "more intensive efforts" to promote and intensify the development of weapons, including tactical nuclear weapons.

Confirmation of the launch - reported by the South Korean military yesterday - came as inter-Korean relations reached one of their lowest points ever. In response, Seoul and Washington stepped up security cooperation, vowing that Pyongyang "will face a nuclear retaliation and the end of its current government if it uses its nuclear weapons against allies."

South Korean Army Staff considered this launch a "dangerous provocation that undermines peace and security on the Korean Peninsula" and violates UN sanctions against Pyongyang. It was also strongly condemned by the United Nations, United States, and its allies.

"This launch flagrantly violates multiple UN Security Council resolutions, unnecessarily raises tensions, and risks destabilizing the security situation in the region," said Adam Hodge, a spokesman for the US National Security Council, in a statement.

A spokesman for the Secretary-General of United Nations, Antonio Guterres, expressed the latter's "concern" about the launch, while Britain, which holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council, said that the council will hold a public meeting today to discuss North Korea's launch of a ballistic missile, at the request of United States, Albania, France, and Japan. Malta and Britain.

Last February, Pyongyang tested the "Hwasong-15", which also flew 989 km, and said that United States had "intensified espionage activities beyond the level of wartime," citing "provocative" spy plane flights for 8 consecutive days this month...

"There is no guarantee that such a terrible incident - such as the downing of a US Air Force strategic reconnaissance plane - will not happen in the East Sea of Korea," a North Korean Defense Ministry spokesman said.

North Korea has conducted several missile launches this year in breach of sanctions, including testing its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile and, in May, attempting to put a military spy satellite into orbit.

Source: Agencies