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North Korea says it has successfully tested a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that can be launched far more quickly than the ones in its current arsenal.
Experts say the missile, which uses solid fuel as opposed to liquid, is a major milestone for the nation’s military and will greatly strengthen its already formidable nuclear arsenal.
“It’s just going to be much, much harder for the United States to ultimately find and destroy these missiles in a conflict,” says Jeffrey Lewis, an expert on North Korea’s nuclear program at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. “That gives North Korea a much better deterrence.”
The test took place on Thursday morning, local time. The missile appears to have flown at a high angle far above the Earth, according to Japan’s Ministry of Defense. Its flight path caused it to briefly trigger an alert on the Japanese island of Hokkaido. North Korea typically tests its long-range missiles on so-called “lofted trajectories” that go almost straight up instead of traveling for long distances around the Earth.
