Seoul: N. Korea Fires New Solid-Fuel ICBM

10/31/2024 2:08:34 AM

(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) TOKYO, Oct 31 (KUNA) -- North Korea fired what appeared to be a new type of solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) toward the East Sea (Sea of Japan) on Thursday, South Korea's military said, according to Yonhap News Agency.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the missile, fired on a lofted trajectory, at about 7:10 a.m. (22:10 Wednesday GMT) from the North's Pyongyang area and flew about 1,000 km before landing in the East Sea.
When fired at a normal angle, ICBMs are capable of striking the US mainland. "Early assessment showed there is a possibility (North Korea) may have test-fired a new type of solid-fuel long-range ballistic missile," JCS spokesperson Lee Sung-jun told a press briefing in Seoul.
When asked about the timing of the latest launch, Lee said the North appears to have launched the missile to gain leverage ahead of the US election, in a break from the current situation of intensifying scrutiny and criticism over the North's troop deployment to Russia.
Thursday's launch came hours after the defense chiefs of South Korea and the US jointly condemned the North's troop deployment to Russia with "one voice" in the "strongest" terms during the allies' annual defense talks at the Pentagon on Wednesday. North Korea's troop deployment to Russia has spawned concerns about an escalation of Moscow's protracted war in Ukraine.
The launch came 10 months after the North fired a Hwasong-18 solid-fuel ICBM on December 18. (end)
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