Seoul, March 25, 2022 – Teardrop sunglasses, black leather jacketand face pulled to the top gun, Kim Jong-un did not want to miss the launch of the new North Korean ICBM Hwasongpho-17. An event that he obviously cared very much, given the irrepressible exultation in front of the success of the umpteenth show of strength for the West.
The launch “was conducted on March 24 under the direct leadership of Kim Jong-un”, reports the agency Kcna, the official voice of the regime. “The missile, launched from Pyongyang International Airport, traveled to a maximum altitude of 6,248.5 kilometers and flew to a distance of 1,090 kilometers for 4,052 seconds before accurately striking a preordained area in the open sea of the East Korean Sea, “the Sea of Japan.
And Kim in the photos smiles and applauds, even his generals, always very attentive to the leader’s mood, are happy with the undertaking, or perhaps simply rejoice at having avoided a harsh punishment in case of failure.
The Hwasong-17 missile is a ‘toy’, however, that seriously worries Washington, and beyond: it can reach the United States and in theory it can be armed with a nuclear warhead. And last night the US secretary of state Antony Blink speaking with South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong, a meeting of the UN Security Council is also scheduled.
Photographs released by the North Korean media show Kim Jong-un walking past the huge ICBM that was first presented in October 2020, dubbed “monstrous missile” by analysts, and now tested for the first time.