TOKYO, November 19. /TASS/. North Korea fired a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on November 18, and the country’s leader Kim Jong-un oversaw the launch, the state-run KCNA news agency reported on Saturday.
"The new-type ICBM Hwasongpho-17, launched at the Pyongyang International Airport, traveled up to a maximum altitude of 6,040.9 km and flew a distance of 999.2 km for 4,135s before accurately landing on the preset area in open waters of the East Sea of Korea," the agency said. "Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the DPRK, guided the test-fire on the spot."
"Kim Jong Un solemnly declared that if the enemies continue to pose threats to the DPRK, frequently introducing nuclear strike means, our Party and government will resolutely react to nukes with nuclear weapons and to total confrontation with all-out confrontation," the report says.
North Korea on Friday morning launched a missile which Japan classified as intercontinental. The missile flew about 1,000 kilometers along a steep trajectory, rising to a maximum altitude of 6,000 kilometers and splashed down about 200 kilometers west of the Japanese island of Hokkaido, within Japan’s exclusive economic zone. According to Japanese Defense Ministry estimates, if launched along an ordinary trajectory, such a missile is capable of flying more than 15,000 kilometers to reach the continental part of the United States.