KCNA, North Korea’s main news agency, said on Friday that the country claimed to have successfully test-fired a brand new solid-fueled Intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) called the Hwasong-18 was launched on Thursday at local time.
According to KCNA, Kim Jong Un, the leader of North Korea, oversaw the “Initial launch of a new intercontinental ballistic missile during the test,” and the launch did not have a detrimental effect on the security of the countries that are North Korea’s neighbors. According to the report, the missile also completed a stage split.
The international standard for intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) is now solid-fueled, which makes them easier to move and allows them to be launched more quickly than liquid-fueled rockets.
The Minuteman III, which is the primary intercontinental ballistic missile used by the United States, has 3 rocket motors that are solid-fueled.
According to KCNA, Kim Jong-un expressed “great excitement” over the successful completion of the test launch and the role that the Hwasong-18 will play in defending North Korea, preventing invasions, and safeguarding the nation’s security.
A researcher at the James Martin Centre for Nonproliferation Studies named Jeffrey Lewis stated on Twitter that it should not come as a surprise if North Korea launched a solid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), as it is just more convenient to employ solid-fuel rockets.
He went on to say that it was inevitable that North Korea will take the same approach to technology as the United States of America, France, the Soviet Union, China, India, and Israel.
 While North Korea is conducting experiments on big-diameter motors for solid rockets for… a number of years, it has been abundantly evident (even to me) that a test similar to this one might have taken place at any time after 2020.
The launch that took place on Thursday by North Korea caused a short panic on the volcanic island of Hokkaido, which is located in the northern part of Japan after an emergency warning system of the Japanese government told inhabitants to seek cover.
Fear quickly gave way to confusion and anger as word spread that the directive to evacuate had been rescinded after local officials said there was no chance the missile would hit the island and Tokyo confirmed It had crashed outside of the Japanese area, in the seas off the shore of the Korean Peninsula’s eastern coast.
According to a force official, the military of South Korea stated at the time that it suspected Pyongyang was launching a new nuclear missile, which it displayed in a military parade. This statement was made by the South Korean military.
