KIM Jong-un oversaw the test-firing of North Korea's largest ever ballistic missile in a slick Hollywood style video released today.
In what could easily be mistaken for a movie scene out of Top Gun, the North Korean leader strode out in a snazzy leather jacket and sunglasses in front of the colossal weapon.
Accompanied by military top brass, Kim personally gave the green light for the testing of the huge new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that is capable of hitting global targets.
The slick state media video shows Kim checking his fancy watch before taking off his sunglasses in dramatic fashion to approve the launch.
Known as the Hwasong-17, the giant ICBM was first unveiled in October 2020 and dubbed a "monster missile" by analysts.
It had never previously been successfully test-fired, and the launch prompted immediate outrage from Pyongyang's neighbours and the United States.
"The missile, launched at Pyongyang International Airport, travelled up to a maximum altitude of 6,248.5 km and flew a distance of 1,090 km for 4,052s before accurately hitting the pre-set area in open waters" in the Sea of Japan, KCNA said.
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Kim ordered the test because of the "daily-escalating military tension in and around the Korean peninsula" and the "inevitability of the long-standing confrontation with the US imperialists accompanied by the danger of a nuclear war".
The Thursday launch was the first time Pyongyang has fired Kim's most powerful missiles at full range since 2017.
South Korea's military had estimated the range of the Thursday launch as 6,200 kilometres (3,900 miles) — far longer than the last ICBM, the Hwasong-15, which North Korea tested in November 2017.
Analysts have speculated that the Hwasong-17 is designed to carry multiple warheads and decoys to better penetrate missile defences.
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The missile landed in Japan's exclusive economic zone, prompting anger from Tokyo, but KCNA said the test had been carried out "in a vertical launch mode" to ease neighbours' security concerns.
Following Thursday's test, Washington imposed new sanctions on entities and people in Russia and North Korea who are accused of "transferring sensitive items to North Korea's missile program".
US analysts were worried about the potential threat that comes with the launch.
The test is a clear sign North Korea has made "important qualitative progress" on its banned weapons programs, said US-based analyst Ankit Panda.
"What's important about this ICBM is not how far it can go, but what it can potentially carry, which is multiple warheads," something North Korea has long coveted, he told AFP.
"The North Koreans are on the cusp of significantly increasing the threat to the United States beyond the ICBM capability demonstrated in 2017."
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The advanced technology could help a North Korean missile evade US missile defence systems.
Long-range and nuclear tests were paused when Kim and then-US president Donald Trump engaged in a bout of diplomacy which collapsed in 2019 but talks have since stalled.
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