North Korea «successfully» conducts ballistic missile test: KCNA

BEIJING. KAZINFORM - North Korea successfully conducted test-firing of a medium-range ballistic missile and verified the warhead's atmospheric re-entry capability, official media in Pyongyang said Thursday, Kyodo reports.

The missile "accurately landed in the targeted waters" 400 kilometers away, the state-run Korean Central News Agency said in apparent reference to the launch Wednesday morning.

Kim Jong Un, the country's top leader, "guided the test-fire of surface-to-surface medium long-range strategic ballistic missile Hwasong-10," the report said, without citing when the launch took place.

The launch "was carried out by the high-angle fire system under the simulation of its maximum range," the news agency said, adding that it "verified the heat-resistance capability of warhead in the re-entry section and its flight stability."

Kim was quoted as saying that the launch showed North Korea has "the sure capability to attack in an overall and practical way the Americans in the Pacific operation theatre."

Source: Kyodo