If successfully developed, solid-fuel technology would be a significant advance, making the North’s missiles easier to move and harder to target.
North Korea said on Friday that it had test-launched a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time, technology that would be a significant step forward for its missile program if developed successfully.
The launch on Thursday, off the North’s east coast, was reported at the time by South Korea’s military, which said only that it had been an intermediate- or long-range missile. On Friday, the North’s state media said it had been a three-stage Hwasong-18 ICBM, a new model with solid-fuel technology.
A solid-fuel missile is easier to hide and transport, and it takes less time to prepare one for launch. That makes it harder to target in pre-emptive strikes than the North’s Hwasong-14, -15 and -17 ICBM models, all of which use liquid propellants. After further analyzing data from the launch, South Korea confirmed on Friday that the missile was a solid-fuel ICBM, but said the North would “need more time and effort before completing its development.”
Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, said he would create “a clearer security crisis” for the United States and its allies by escalating the North’s nuclear capabilities in the face of growing military cooperation between Washington and Seoul, the North’s state media report said on Friday.
Analysts had suspected that North Korea was developing a solid-fuel ICBM, and Mr. Kim had vowed to add it to its growing nuclear arsenal. But until Thursday, North Korea had never launched one.
In December, North Korea said it had tested a powerful new solid-fuel ICBM engine. After that test, Mr. Kim urged his engineers to build a solid-fuel ICBM “in the shortest span of time.” A military parade in Pyongyang, the North’s capital, in February included a record number of ICBM launchers, including one that looked as if it was designed for a solid-fuel missile.
Photographs released by state media on Friday appeared to show Mr. Kim watching, his young daughter by his side. as the new launcher rolled out from a concrete tunnel into an open field and fired the Hwasong-18.
According to one of the secret Pentagon documents leaked in recent weeks, U.S. intelligence officials judged that “because of testing hurdles and resource constraints,” the North would probably not be able to outfit all of the ICBM launchers it displayed in the parade with operational missiles that could strike the continental United States — at least during the next year.