North Korea has tested an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) amid escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula. The launch followed the USS Missouri – a nuclear submarine – making a stop in South Korea. 

Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un watched the Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile launch. Following the test launch of an Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile, Kim said, according to North Korean state media, “The launching drill sent a clear signal to the hostile forces, who have fanned up their reckless military confrontation hysteria against the DPRK all the year round and are frantically maximizing it till the end of this year despite the repeated stern warnings and denunciation by the DPRK.” 

“It was an occasion to clearly show what action the DPRK has been prepared and what option the DPRK would take when Washington makes a wrong decision against it.” The statement continues, “[North Korea needs] to never overlook all the reckless and irresponsible military threats of the enemies destroying the basis of peace and security in the Korean peninsula and to strongly counter them with more offensive actions by adopting a more evolutionary and threatening way when the enemies continue to make a wrong choice.”

Monday was the first time Pyongyang ordered an ICBM test in five months. According to the Associated Press, the South Korean government believes the Hwasong-18 is a solid-fuel rocket. The development means the ICBM takes less time to prepare and is more challenging to detect. Jake Sullivan, the White House National Security Advisor, spoke with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts. The three nations condemned North Korea for the launch. 

The UN Security Council is set to meet on Tuesday about the ICBM test at the request of the US. A State Department spokesperson said, “These launches, like the other ballistic missile launches Pyongyang has conducted this year, are in violation of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions.” 

The commander of Indo-Pacific Command called the recent North Korean military activity concerning. Adm. John Aquilino said that all of North Korea’s “increased missile capabilities and testing — from ICBM all the way to the space launch vehicle last month — is concerning.” South Korea slammed the launch as “a grave provocation” that threatened international peace. 

The Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party of Korea said the test was in response to US and South Korean nuclear talks and the development of the USS Missouri. “On December 15, the US and the military gangsters of the Republic of Korea held a nuclear war confab called the second meeting of the “Nuclear Consultative Group” in Washington and openly revealed their intention to conduct large-scale joint drills under the simulated conditions of an actual war of “nuclear retaliatory strike” at the DPRK, again crying out for the “end of its regime,” KCNA reported the North Korean military said. 

“What should not be overlooked is the fact that the US again dispatched its nuclear-powered submarine Missouri to the Korean peninsula, as an extremely provocative action, on Dec. 17 to pose a more grave threat to the security environment of the DPRK and the region, loudly advertising about it.” The statement continues, “[The US is] not content with the frequent deployment of nuclear war hardware of various kinds including nuclear strategic bombers, super-large strategic nuclear submarine and nuclear carrier in the Korean peninsula to turn it into an assembly base for all the US nuclear strategic assets.”