North Korea on Friday confirmed the launch of a new Hwasong-17 ICBM.

The regime indirectly made it clear that it had given up the 2018 self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests.

The state news agency KCNA described the missile as a means of launching a nuclear strike and a reliable deterrent to nuclear war.

In response to the missile launch, the United States imposed further sanctions on five institutes, companies and individuals in North Korea and Russia that the United States has identified as being implicated in the North Korean missile program.

Patrick Welter

Correspondent for business and politics in Japan based in Tokyo.

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The test was an impressive demonstration of North Korea's great military strength, the KCNA report said.

The state media published photos in which ruler Kim Jong-un, dressed in a black leather jacket, shows the way to the mobile launch platform with eleven axes like a pilot.

A propaganda video showed the rocket launch in slow motion from different camera perspectives.

A camera was also attached to the rocket itself.

America, South Korea and Japan had already rated the launch of the rocket as a breach of the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council.

On Friday, the Security Council wanted to meet for a special session.

South Korea fired smaller missiles as a warning to North Korea on Thursday after the missile test, which could destroy underground bunkers in an emergency.

On Friday, the South Korean military trained as a deterrent with dozens of F-35 fighter jets.

The North Korean missile test proves the failure of outgoing South Korean President Moon Jae-in's attempted détente policy.

It's not uncommon for North Korea to use missile launches to mark presidential changes in South Korea.

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol said on Friday that the regime would not achieve anything with provocations.

In a telephone conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Yoon asked for close cooperation on North Korea's nuclear disarmament.

The test went according to plan

The dimensions of the new weapon, which North Korea first unveiled during a parade in 2020, are raising new concerns.

According to Japanese distribution minister Nobuo Kishi, the missile has a range of more than 15,000 kilometers and can therefore also reach the American east coast.

The range depends on the weight of the warhead.

On Friday, Kishi spoke of a new dimension of the threat.

Experts suspect that the missile can carry multiple warheads.

The successful launch is not proof that North Korea can control the missile's re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere in such a way that the warheads are not damaged.

The rocket was fired from Pyongyang International Airport, according to North Korean sources.

North Korea states the maximum flight altitude as 6248.5 kilometers and the flight duration as 4052 seconds (or 67.5 minutes).

This roughly corresponds to the information from South Korea from the previous day.

Out of consideration for the safety of the neighbors, the rocket was launched in a vertical position, according to the North Korean reports.

The missile accurately hit the target area in the Korean East Sea.

This was reported in the Japanese media with great doubt.

According to the Japanese government, the missile landed about 150 kilometers off the west coast of Hokkaido in waters over which Japan holds economic rights.

Local fishermen and the Tokyo government are concerned that North Korea is dropping missiles in Japanese waters.