The Democratic People's Republic of Korea continues to build up its military potential against the backdrop of increased threats from the United States, with countries such as Japan and the Republic of Korea increasingly drawn into the orbit of Washington's military-political influence in the Asia-Pacific region. Tokyo and Seoul, in turn, do not hide their hostility towards North Korea, traditionally more out of fear of the unpredictability of decision-making by North Korean leaders.
At the same time, a small and poor state in East Asia, which has been in international political and economic isolation for decades, manages to develop its own military-industrial complex, developing, testing and putting into service ever more modern and powerful long-range weapons, including nuclear warhead carriers.
It is possible that Beijing and Moscow are providing Pyongyang with some support and assistance, taking into account long-term friendly relations, especially against the backdrop of the increased confrontation between Russia and China and North Korea's Western enemies. But there is no official confirmation of this, such a version is more likely from the field of conspiracy theories.
As previously reported by the South Korean Yonhap news agency, on April 13 this year, the DPRK conducted the first tests of a new solid-propellant intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) Hwasong-18 (Hwasong 18), the first stage of which fell into the sea ten kilometers from the coast of North Korea. As always, the head of state, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, Kim Jong-un, who was personally present at the tests of new types of weapons, said that ICBMs of this type will help "significantly reorganize the strategic deterrence forces" of the DPRK.
The second test launch of the new ICBM was not long in coming. The same South Korean Yonhap agency reported, citing the North Korean media, that the DPRK conducted new tests of the Hwasong 18 yesterday, July 12. The rocket launch was confirmed in South Korea and Japan. According to the Japanese military, a ballistic missile fired at about 10 am local time (04.00 Moscow time) from an area near Pyongyang fell into the water in the Sea of Japan.
According to the North Korean side, the new solid-propellant intercontinental ballistic missile flew 1100 km in 74 minutes and 51 seconds, reaching a maximum altitude of 6648 kilometers, and landed at its destination in the open sea. The tests, as always, were observed by North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-un, who said that the military countries will continue to take "offensive measures" until "the United States abandons its hostile policy towards Pyongyang."
After the announcement of a new test launch of a North Korean ICBM, President of the Republic of Korea Yun Seok Yeol, who is at the NATO summit in Vilnius, held an emergency meeting of the permanent members of the National Security Council of the country. At a meeting of the Security Council, the head of South Korea instructed to urgently prepare a meeting of a nuclear advisory group with the United States to discuss measures to expand the containment of the DPRK. It is possible that Kim Jong-un deliberately timed the second test launch of the Hwasong 18 to coincide with the meeting of the heads of state of the North Atlantic Alliance and their allies in the capital of Lithuania.