North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the launch of a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) when he made his first public appearance with his daughter, state news agency KCNA reported on Saturday.

Kim said on Friday that he would respond to US nuclear threats with his own nuclear weapons while overseeing the firing of the missile, which KCNA said was the Hwasong-17 and what weapons experts called a “monster missile”.

According to KCNA, the launch of the new projectile was successful, emphasizing that “the test clearly demonstrated the reliability of the new strategic weapon system.”

Kim posed for a photo with his wife and daughter in the state media’s first reference to their children.

The footage shows the dictator next to a girl in a white coat and red shoes walking in front of the missile.

State media did not reveal the name of Kim Jong Un’s daughter.

fourth generation

Former CIA analyst Soo told AFP that the most important thing about Friday’s ICBM launch was “the persistence of the Kim regime’s weapons program, because it is integral to the survival and continuity of his family’s reign.” Rand Corporation research center.

Commenting on state media coverage, he summed up the situation: “We saw the fourth generation of the Kim family with our own eyes.”

According to South Korean intelligence agency, Kim Jong Un, the grandson of North Korea’s founder Kim Il Sung and the third generation who ruled the country, married Ri Sol Ju in 2009.

According to the agency, a year later the couple had their first child, and the next ones were born in 2013 and 2017.

The only previous confirmation about Kim’s children came from former NBA star Dennis Rodman, who visited North Korea in 2013 and claimed to have met Kim’s little girl named Ju Ae.

Analysts believe the girl in the photos is Ju Ae, possibly Kim’s second daughter, Cheong Seong-chang from the Sejong Institute’s (South Korea) Center for North Korean Studies.

Kim’s warnings

North Korea has conducted a record number of weapons tests in recent weeks, which Pyongyang sees as a response to US military maneuvers in the region.

Many countries fear that the launches are the start of a new nuclear test.

The KCNA said Kim criticized “the hysterical aggression that creates war simulations” and that if the United States continues to threaten, Pyongyang will “resolutely respond to nuclear weapons and all-out conflict and all-out conflict”. “. “.

According to state media, the missile reached a maximum altitude of 6,040.9 km and covered a distance of 999.2 km, these parameters coincide with the estimates of the South Korean military and Japanese officials.

Pyongyang announced on March 24 that it had launched its most powerful Hwasong-17 missile to date, but Seoul later expressed doubts about the test.

Analysts say the layoff was successful this time around.

“This launch is significant as it is believed to be the first successful flight of a Hawsong-17 ICBM,” researcher Joseph Dempsey from the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) told AFP.

The missile was launched upwards to prevent it from flying over Japan.

But the “monster missile” has its drawbacks. “The size of the transport and manufacturing system puts a greater strain on the nation’s limited resources, making it less useful,” explains Dempsey.

After Kim Jong Un announced in September that his country’s nuclear program is “irreversible”, the US government has strengthened military cooperation with Japan and South Korea and is seeking to strengthen defenses in the region.

On Saturday, US forces sent a B-1B bomber to the Korean peninsula for a joint air exercise with South Korea.

The UN Security Council will discuss the issue of North Korea at its meeting on Monday.