North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un has for the first time overseen a test of Pyongyang’s latest ICBM with his daughter in tow, state media reported on Saturday.

He said he would combat perceived nuclear threats from the US with its own nuclear weapons, and on Friday oversaw the launch of a giant black-and-white missile that KCNA said was the Hwasong-17, which analysts have dubbed a “monster missile.” became.

The launch of the “novel ICBM” was successful, KCNA said, adding that “the test fire clearly demonstrated the reliability of the new large strategic weapon system.”

KCNA said Kim attended the launch “along with his beloved daughter and wife,” and state media images showed a beaming Kim accompanied by a young girl in a puffer jacket and red shoes as he walked in front of the rocket.

It is extremely rare for state media to mention Kim’s children and this is the first official confirmation that he has a daughter, experts said.

The recent launch shows that “the DPRK’s nuclear forces have ensured another reliable and maximum capability to contain any nuclear threat,” KCNA said, using the country’s official name, DPRK.

Since Kim declared North Korea an “irreversible” nuclear state in September, Washington has intensified regional security cooperation, including its largest-ever joint air exercises with the South.

Kim criticized what he called “hysterical aggressive war drills” and said that if America continued to issue threats against the North, Pyongyang would “resolutely respond to nuclear weapons and to all-out confrontation with all-out confrontation,” KCNA reported.

North Korea has conducted a record-breaking blitz of launches in recent weeks that Pyongyang – and Moscow – have repeatedly blamed on US moves to step up the protection it offers to allies Seoul and Tokyo.

The presence of the country’s first family lends “greater strength and courage in the dynamic advance to strengthen the state’s nuclear strategic force,” KCNA reported.

According to KCNA, the rocket reached a maximum altitude of 6,040.9 kilometers (3,750 miles) and flew 999.2 kilometers, matching Seoul and Tokyo estimates on Friday.

North Korea previously claimed to have launched an Hwasong-17 — its most powerful missile to date — on March 24, and released a slick promotional video and photos of the event.

But Seoul later cast doubt on that claim, with local reports suggesting that the Hwasong-17 had detonated over Pyongyang skies on March 17 and that the North had faked a successful launch with a smaller, older rocket.

This time, analysts said the North appears to have succeeded.

“This launch is significant as it marks the first successful full flight test of the Hwasong-17 ICBM,” Joseph Dempsey, a researcher at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), told AFP.

As with all North Korean ICBM tests, the missile was launched in an “elevated” trajectory — upward, not outward, to avoid flying over Japan — meaning key questions remain — “particularly in relation to the survival of the… reentry into the atmosphere and testing accuracy over longer ranges,” he said.

The “monster rocket” has drawbacks, despite likely having a larger payload capacity, Dempsey added.

“Its sheer size makes it less practical as a road-mobile system, and production would likely put a significantly greater strain on limited resources,” he said.

North Korea has launched numerous ballistic missiles this year, far more than any other year on record.

Recent launches have been increasingly provocative, including launching a missile over Japan last month that triggered a rare airstrike alert.

On November 2, Pyongyang fired 23 rockets, including one that effectively crossed the sea border and landed near southern territorial waters for the first time since the end of Korean War hostilities in 1953. Seoul called it “effectively a territorial invasion.” .

The next day, North Korea fired an ICBM – although Seoul said it appeared to fail in mid-flight.

The key takeaway from Friday’s ICBM launch is “the durability of the Kim regime’s weapons program because it is so essential to Kim’s own survival and the continuity of his family’s rule,” Soo Kim, a former CIA analyst, said now at RAND Corporation, told AFP.

With state media coverage, “We have seen the fourth generation of the Kim family with our own eyes. And his daughter – along with potential other siblings – will certainly be cared for by her father,” she said.