North Korea test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile on Friday with the ability to launch nuclear strikes on the entire U.S. mainland.
According to South Korean and Japanese estimates, the missile flew 620 miles with a maximum altitude of 3,600-3,790 miles.
During the launch, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un revealed his daughter to the world for the first time. Images showed the pair hand-in-hand at the site.
North Korea’s newspaper Rodong Sinmun published photos of Kim with his daughter. Kim’s wife, Ri Sol-Ju, could also be seen in the images.
According to a Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) report, Kim was present at the test site with “his beloved daughter and wife” to “personally guide the whole course of the test fire.”
North Korean expert Ankit Panda said on Twitter, “we’ve never seen his daughter” in public until now.
Note: this is the bigger reveal today; we’ve never seen his daughter (his eldest child) in public before.
— Ankit Panda (@nktpnd) November 18, 2022
Kim is believed to have as many as three children, two girls and a boy,
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“This is the first observed occasion where we have seen Kim Jong-un’s daughter at a public event,” Reuters quoted Michael Madden, a North Korea leadership expert at the U.S.-based Stimson Center, saying.
The appearance of the leader’s daughter at this event could be hinting at a fourth-generation hereditary succession, Madden added.
North Korea’s recent missile test comes after China and Russia opposed U.S. moves to toughen U.N. sanctions to curb North Korea’s nuclear program.
In a statement, North Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Choe Son Hui criticized President Joe Biden’s discussion at the G20 and ASEAN summit regarding Pyongyang’s missile program, saying it was “bringing the situation on the Korean peninsula to an unpredictable phase.“
Photo: Courtesy of shutterstock.com
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