N. Korea says new missile it tested is 'world's strongest'

It flies higher than its previous missiles and can also strike nearly anywhere in the US

SEOUL - North Korea flexed its military muscle with the test of a huge new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile dubbed Hwasong-19, state media said on Nov 1, amid international uproar over its troops deployed to aid Russia in Ukraine.

The launch on Oct 31 flew higher than any previous North Korean missile, according to the North as well as militaries in South Korea and Japan that tracked its flight deep into space before it splashed down in the ocean between Japan and Russia.

State news agency KCNA lauded it as "the world's strongest strategic missile".

While questions remain over North Korea's ability to guide such a missile and protect a nuclear warhead as it re-enters the atmosphere, the Hwasong-19, like North Korea's other latest ICBMs, demonstrated the range to strike nearly anywhere in the US.

"The new-type ICBM proved before the world the hegemonic position we have secured in the development and manufacture of nuclear delivery," leader Kim Jong Un said while overseeing the launch, KCNA reported.

The Oct 31 missile launch, just days before the US presidential election on Nov 5, drew swift condemnation from Washington and its allies in South Korea, Japan and Europe, as well as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.