SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea said Friday it flight-tested a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time, a possible breakthrough in its efforts to acquire a more powerful, harder-to-detect weapon targeting the continental United States.North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency issued the report a day after the country’s neighbors detected a launch of a long-range missile from near Pyongyang, which extended a run of weapons displays involving more than 100 missiles fired into the sea since the start of 2022.Thursday’s test did not appear to demonstrate the weapon’s full capacity, and it remains unclear how far North Korea has come in mastering technologies to ensure the warhead would withstand atmospheric reentry and accurately strike targets.
Still, analysts said the test was likely a meaningful advance in North Korea’s goal to build a nuclear arsenal that could directly threaten the United States.Later Friday, the U.S.
flew nuclear-capable B-52 bombers to the Korean Peninsula for joint aerial training with South Korean warplanes in their latest show of force against North Korea.