Pyongyang unveiled experiment with new model of ballistic missile in state media, hours after Biden threatened a "determined response" to provocation by North Korea
North Korean ballistic missile launch // Photo: Reuters
North Korean state media revealed tonight (Thursday-Friday) that North Korea conducted an experiment with two medium-range medium-range tactical ballistic missiles, hours after a speech by US President Joe Biden.
According to the official news agency in North Korea, the missiles tested carry an explosive device weighing up to two and a half tons and their launch range stands at more than five hundred kilometers.
The country's media published pictures of the launch of one of the missiles from a military launch vehicle.
The photos also show Ri Pyong Chul, North Korea's chief military adviser Kim Jong Un, and his wife's aunt, overseeing the launch and applauding senior members of the North Korean Air Force's missile unit.
The US president addressed tensions with North Korea in a speech yesterday and warned North Korea that if it continued to escalate the situation, as it did this week with the launch of ballistic missiles, "there will be a response accordingly".
Western media reported on Wednesday the launch and the United States, Japan, South Korea and Britain condemned the ballistic experiment, the first of its kind conducted by Pyongyang in a year.
The experiment is a belligerent message to the Biden administration, which has announced that it will announce next month a new policy to tackle North Korea's ballistic missile program.