North Korea missile launch was new kind of ICBM, regime says, as first images emerge

A photo provided by North Korea shows what it says is the test launch of a Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile at an undisclosed location on Thursday. Photograph: 朝鮮通信社/AP

North Korea claims it has successfully tested a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) for the first time – a breakthrough that the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un, warned would make its enemies “suffer in endless fear”.

South Korea’s military said it had detected the launch on Thursday morning of one “medium-range or longer” ballistic missile on an elevated trajectory from near the North Korean capital Pyongyang.