Hwasong-18 - 1st Flight - 12 April 2023
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff announced that an intermediate- or longer-range missile, dubbed the Hwasong-18, was fired eastward from near Pyongyang at around 7:23 am, 12 April 2023. A South Korean military source said the ballistic missile fired by North Korea on 13 April could be a new type. The ROK JCS said it was launched at a lofted angle and flew roughly 1,000 kilometers before falling into waters east of North Korea. The Hwasong-18 was fired from near Pyongyang. South Korea's Yonhap news agency said the missile's altitude appears to have been less than 3,000 kilometers. Yonhap reported a view by the military that if the launch was the first test of a solid-fuel ICBM, North Korea fired it at a low altitude to confirm its flight stability. Solid fuel enables quicker launches compared to conventional liquid fuel.
The missile test came just two days ahead of what North Korea calls the "Day of the Sun" on April 15th, marking the birthday of its founding leader Kim Il-sung. The date, the North's most important political anniversary, has typically been celebrated with significant weapons tests or military parades. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un also directly supervised the launch, and brought his family along -- his powerful sister, Kim Yo-jong, his wife and young daughter, Kim Ju-ae. Experts say this was a calculated move by Kim, intentionally trying to show off how the regime's weapons are keeping their lineage alive and strong, according to professor Yang Moo-jin from the University of North Korean Studies.
The missile test also came as the North had remained unresponsive to routine calls with South Korea for around a week. The inter-Korean liaison communication channel and a military hotline are normally used twice a day, but there has been no response via either channel.
A solid-fuel ICBM is one of the five military tasks that the regime's leader, Kim Jong-un, announced at the key party meeting in January 2021. On 10 April 2023 at its 6th enlarged meeting of the 8th Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea, Kim also stressed the need to expand the regime's war deterrence in a more practical, offensive, and effective way.
Seoul, Washington and Tokyo were quick to condemn another missile launch by Pyongyang. In the meantime, South Korea and the U.S. had agreed to speed up efforts to bolster the allies' extended deterrence during their recent military dialogue.
Seoul's National Security Council strongly denounced North Korea over the launch. At a meeting presided over by National Security Adviser Cho Tae-yong, members, including representatives from the top office, pointed out that the North's latest missile launch is a clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions and a serious threat that heightens tension on the Korean Peninsula and the region. The council vowed to continue pursuing South Korea-U.S. military exercises and maintain a firm readiness posture.
South Korea's military said that the launch by the North was likely a new type of ballistic missile. A statement from the ROK presidential office said the government will also strengthen cooperation between Seoul, Washington, and Tokyo to respond to further provocations from the North, while deepening trilateral intelligence sharing.., including security information with Japan through the GSOMIA pact.
The South Korean defense ministry dismissed security concerns over its kill chain preemptive strike system over North Korea's firing of a solid-fueled ICBM the previous day.
In Washington, the White House issued a statement and called the launch a "shameless" provocation that needlessly builds insecurity in the region, and called for the regime to immediately return to dialogue.
The missile launch startled Korea's neighbor Japan, which was quick to issue an evacuation warning to residents nearby its Hokkaido island, in case the missile fell near the area. Tokyo also launched a security meeting of its own, where senior officials strongly condemned the launch, calling it a "violent" and "completely unacceptable" act.
Japan's government used an emergency alert system to warn residents of Hokkaido about the launch. At 7:55 a.m. sirens began blaring and messages appeared on mobile phones and TVs saying a missile was likely to land on or around Hokkaido and urging people to evacuate immediately. Twenty minutes later, the government canceled the alert, saying there was no longer a possibility of that happening. The warnings rattled people in Hokkaido, and brought transportation systems to a halt just as many commuters were heading to work. Prime Minister Kishida Fumio spoke to reporters shortly after 9 a.m., saying, "We have confirmed that no missiles have fallen in Japanese territory." Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Matsuno Hirokazu said the government had limited information at the time and was prioritizing the safety of the public, so he believes the decision to use the J-ALERT system to warn people in Hokkaido about the missile was correct.
North Korea said 14 April 2023 it had successfully tested a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile, hailing it as a key breakthrough for the country's nuclear counterattack capabilities. Photographs released by Pyongyang's state media 14 April 2023 showed leader Kim Jong Un – accompanied by his wife, sister and young daughter – watching a missile blast off in a cloud of smoke and smiling in jubilation after the purportedly successful launch.
“A new type of intercontinental ballistic missile was test fired on Thursday as the key means of strategic military force,” the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, describing the test as a “miraculous success”. The news agency cited Kim as saying the Hwasong-18 would rapidly advance North Korea’s nuclear response posture and further support an aggressive military strategy that promises to maintain “nuke for nuke and an all-out confrontation for an all-out confrontation” against its rivals. “The Hwasong-18 weapons system to be run by the country’s strategic forces would play its mission and role to defend (North Korea), deter invasions and preserve the country’s safety as its most powerful method,” KCNA said.
"A new-type ICBM, Hwasong-18, which will fulfill its mission of an important war deterrent as the future core pivotal means of the strategic force of the DPRK (North Korea), was test-fired," the official Korean Central News Agency said. Testing the more technologically advanced solid-fuel missile was one of Kim's major goals in his military modernisation campaign, announced in his New Year report. Such missiles are easier to store and transport, more stable and quicker to prepare for launch, and thus harder to detect and destroy pre-emptively.
"The aim of the test-fire was to confirm the performance of the high-thrust solid-fuel engines for multi-stage missiles (and) estimate the military feasibility of the new strategic weapon system," KCNA said. Kim said the new weapon would "radically promote the effectiveness of its nuclear counterattack posture" and allow the North to "constantly strike extreme uneasiness and horror" into its enemies, KCNA added.
The images shared by state media and details provided by the South Korean military indicate the test was the North's first successful launch of a solid-fuel long range missile, US-based analyst Ankit Panda told AFP. "The missile's exhaust plume is consistent with a dirty, smoky solid propellant at work," he said. "We also know from government authorities in South Korea that this missile flew high, and the North Koreans also appear to have released images showing that all stages successfully separated in the course of the missile's flight."
All of Pyongyang's previously known intercontinental ballistic missiles had been liquid-fuelled, and the test marked a long-desired breakthrough for the country's banned weapons programs. It also fit the standard "pattern of provocation" by the North, which likes to first show off, then test new weapons, Go Myong-hyun, researcher at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, told AFP. "The reason North Korea is obsessed with solid-fuel missiles is because it will significantly reduce the preparation time before launch," Go said. "This is important, as the longer it takes after bringing out the missile from a silo or a tunnel, the higher the possibility of destruction before launch."
Relations between the two Koreas are at one of their lowest points in years, with Pyongyang declaring itself an "irreversible" nuclear power in 2022, effectively ending the possibility of denuclearisation talks. In early 2023 Kim also ordered the militaryr to intensify drills to prepare for a "real war". Washington and Seoul ramped up defence cooperation in response, staging joint military exercises with advanced stealth jets and high-profile US strategic assets. North Korea views such exercises as rehearsals for invasion and described them on as "frantic" drills "simulating an all-out war against" Pyongyang.
This launch would mean a major stride in North Korea's weapons development because solid-fueled missiles are faster to launch, easier to use and harder to detect than liquid-powered ones. The South Korean defense ministry on 14 April 2023 said the Hwasong-18 launch was a mid-stage test until the North fully develops a solid-fueled long-distance ballistic missile, and that North Korea is going to need more time and effort until its gets around to perfecting the craft. The official Korean Central News Agency cited leader Kim Jong Un as saying the Hwasong-18 would further support an aggressive military strategy that promises to maintain “nuke for nuke and an all-out confrontation for an all-out confrontation” against North Korea’s rivals.
