Voice of America News reports: “North Korea on Friday bragged about its recently tested new intercontinental ballistic missile, calling it ‘the world’s strongest.’ Outside experts saw the claim as propaganda, though the test did show advancement in the North’s quest to build a more reliable weapons arsenal.

A missile that North Korea launched Thursday flew higher and stayed in the air longer than any other weapon the country has so far fired. It signaled that the North has achieved progress in acquiring a nuclear-armed ICBM that can hit the U.S. mainland. But foreign experts said the country has still a few technological issues to master.

On Friday, the North’s Korean Central News Agency identified the missile as the ‘Hwasong-19’ ICBM and called it ‘the world’s strongest strategic missile’ and ‘the perfected weapon system.’

KCNA said leader Kim Jong Un observed the launch, describing it as ‘an appropriate military action’ to express North Korea’s resolve to respond to its enemies’ moves that escalated tensions and threats to North Korea’s national security. It said Kim thanked weapons scientists for demonstrating North Korea’s ‘matchless strategic nuclear attack capability.’

South Korea’s military earlier said that North Korea could have tested a solid-fuel missile, but Friday’s KCNA dispatch didn’t say what propellant the Hwasong-19 ICBM uses. Observers said the color of exhaust flames seen in North Korean media photos of the launch suggested the new ICBM uses solid fuels…”