North Korea media boast of ICBM launch 'success'

North Korean media outlets ran headlines Saturday boasting of the country's "success" in launching a new intercontinental ballistic missile earlier this week, casting it as "a thrilling victory."

The Rodong Sinmun, the North's main newspaper, reported on its front page, "We have seen it, and so has the world," adding, "Our country has become stronger once again and our people have become greater once more."

North Korea on Friday confirmed its test-firing of a new ICBM the previous day under the direct order of its leader Kim Jong-un, making it official that it has scrapped its self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile launches that had been in place since early 2018.

The newspaper described the Hwasong-17 as a missile that "flew like an arrow of justice and showed off the irreversible military strength," and said the height it has reached is the height of the "dignity of the nation and people."

The article described its leader Kim Jong-un, who oversaw the missile launch, as a "comrade in a majestic posture who raised a fist with his warriors and left a canvas that will remain in history."

Kim has also caught the world's attention by appearing in the video for the ICBM launch, sporting a black leather jacket and aviator shades, a look that foreign media have likened to "a Hollywood-style" makeover and a "Top Gun" appearance.

The North's official Korean Central News Agency also carried reports on North Korean citizens crowded around a bulletin board to read the news on the ICBM test with excitement and pride.

Meanwhile, the Choson Sinbo, a pro-North Korea newspaper in Japan, reported that the North's latest ICBM test is a "key means of attack" targeting the United States and aimed at gaining "overwhelming power" over U.S. hostilities.

"The purpose of developing strategic weapons is to acquire overwhelming power that will completely break the will of the United States to open a war," the outlet reported.

"Hwasongpho-17 is a key means of the North's strategic armed forces to strike the United States facing off across the Pacific Ocean," it said.

The newspaper also stressed that no armed conflict will occur if Washington withdraws its hostile policy toward Pyongyang. (Yonhap)