North Korea fired ‘new type’ of ballistic missile, Seoul says

North Korea fired Thursday, April 13 a “new guy” ballistic missile, “possibly solid fuel”, says the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff. The missile, launched Thursday at 7:23 a.m. (12:23 a.m. in Paris), followed a lobed trajectory and “traveled 1000 km” before landing in the Sea of ​​Japan. This shot triggered a brief alert in the Japanese island of Hokkaido, before Japan clarified that the projectile had not hit its territory.

So far, all intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) launched by North Korea have been liquid fueled. However, solid-fuel missiles, which Pyongyang has long sought to develop, demonstrate better stability and are quicker to prepare for launch than liquid-fuel missiles, which makes them more difficult to detect and destroy by American forces. The use of a solid-fuel ballistic missile would mark a major technological and strategic breakthrough for Pyongyang’s weapons program.

Washington “strongly condemns” the shooting

“This launch constitutes a brazen violation of several United Nations Security Council resolutions, unnecessarily increases tensions and risks destabilizing security in the region”denounced Adrienne Watson, spokesperson for the National Security Council of the American presidency.

Launch details are being analyzed “in detail”, underlined the South Korean staff. Pyongyang has stepped up arms tests in recent months, heightening tension with Seoul and Washington, which have for their part strengthened their military cooperation and carried out vast joint maneuvers in the region. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called on Monday to increase his country’s deterrence capabilities to counter “the escalation of maneuvers”.