SEOUL - The Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which was fired during a drill to show a "tough response posture" to ongoing U.S.-South Korea military drills, was described by North Korea as its largest launch to date on Thursday, according to state media.
Kim Jong Un could be seen watching the launch with his daughter in pictures that were made public by the nation's government media on Friday. The images also included images from space that appeared to have been taken by a camera mounted on the missile.
On Thursday, hours before the president of South Korea flew to Tokyo for a summit where strategies for deterring the nuclear-armed North were discussed, North Korea launched an ICBM into the sea between the Korean peninsula and Japan.
The strategic weapon's launch drill provides an opportunity to issue a stronger warning to enemies who are deliberately escalating tension on the Korean peninsula while continuing to make careless and reckless military threats, according to state news agency KCNA.
Ballistic missiles from the North are prohibited by United Nations Security Council resolutions, and the launch was denounced by the governments of Seoul, Washington, and Tokyo. On Monday, "Freedom Shield 23," an 11-day joint exercise between South Korean and American forces held to counter the North's increasing threats, got underway.
With the military exercises, Kim claimed that South Korea and the US were escalating tensions.
By irrevocably bolstering the nuclear war deterrent, he "stressed the need to strike fear into the enemies, really deter war, and reliably guarantee the peaceful life of our people and their struggle for socialist construction," according to KCNA.
The United States is also to blame for the current tensions, according to China, which has a defense agreement with North Korea. Washington is allegedly trying to put more pressure on Pyongyang.
The Hwasong-17 is the largest missile ever developed by North Korea and the biggest road-mobile liquid-fueled ICBM in the world. It is thought to have the range to potentially reach any target in the United States with a nuclear warhead.
The missile was fired from the airport in Pyongyang, and according to KCNA, it reached a maximum altitude of 6,045 km (3,756 mi) and covered a distance of 1,000 km (621 mi) in a little more than 69 minutes before crashing into the ocean. According to the report, there was no danger to neighboring countries' security from the launch.