By Hyunsu Yim and Josh Smith

SEOUL – North Korea has flexed its military muscle with the test of a new giant solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile called the Hwasong-19, state media said on Friday, amid international uproar over its troops deployed to help Russia in Ukraine .

Thursday’s launch flew higher than any previous North Korean missile, according to the North as well as the militaries of South Korea and Japan, which tracked its flight deep into space before splashing down in the ocean between Japan and Russia.

State news agency KCNA praised it as “the world’s most powerful strategic missile”.

While questions remain about 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 recent ICBMs, has demonstrated range to hit almost anywhere in the United States.

“The new-type ICBM proved to the world that the hegemonic position we have secured in the development and manufacture of nuclear delivery,” leader Kim Jong Un said as he oversaw the launch, KCNA reported.

Thursday’s missile launch, just days before next week’s US presidential election, drew swift condemnation from Washington and its allies in South Korea, Japan and Europe, as well as the United Nations Secretary-General.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky criticized what he called the “zero” response from his allies to Russia’s deployment of North Korean troops for the war in Ukraine, which also raised concerns that Moscow could provide sensitive military technology to Pyongyang in return .

Russia and North Korea have not denied the deployment of troops and defended their right to help each other.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the Pentagon was very early in its assessment of the missile launch “and we don’t see any indication at this point that there is any Russian involvement.”

The KCNA report said the launch did not affect the security of neighboring countries and was an appropriate military step in the face of threats from North Korea’s enemies.

The Hwasong-19 will deploy alongside the Hwasong-18, which was first launched last year and is also powered by solid fuel, KCNA said.

Solid-fuel missiles do not need to be fueled immediately before launch, are often easier and safer to operate, and require less logistical support, making them harder to detect than liquid-fuel weapons.

Photos released by KCNA showed a large, multi-stage missile launched from a container carried by a carrier-builder-launcher vehicle.

KCNA also showed photos from cameras that appeared to be attached to the missile, capturing images of stage separations and the ground.

The missile flew a distance of 1,001.2 km for 5,156 seconds before landing in the sea off the east coast of the Korean peninsula, according to the KCNA report.

It recorded a maximum peak altitude of 7,687.5 km, it added.

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