North Korea test new stealth ballistic missile sparking mass evacuation in Japan

KIM Jong-un sparked a mass evacuation in Japan as North Korea fired its first intercontinental ballistic missile in a month. It is thought the rocket launched was a new type of more mobile, harder-to-detect weapons system. APNorth Korea launched a missile for the first time in a month[/caption] South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile launched on a high angle from near the North Korean capital of Pyongyang. It then fell into the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan following a 1,000km flight. The armed services group described the missile as having a medium or long range. The United States National Security Council called it a long-range missile and Japan’s defense minister an ICBM-class weapon. South Korea’s military believes North Korea launched a new type of ballistic missile, possibly using solid fuel, a defense official said under anonymity because of office rules. If the launch involved a solid-fuel ICBM, it would be the North’s first test of such a weapon. North Korea’s known ICBMs all use liquid propellant systems that require them to be fueled before launches. But the fuel in a solid propellant weapon is already loaded inside, allowing them to be moved more easily and fired more quickly. The launch prompted Japan to issue an evacuation order on a northern island. It read: “Immediately evacuate inside the building or underground. “The missile is expected to fall around Hokkaido around 08:00.” The order was later retracted, however.