Pyongyang: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un confirmed the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Thursday, describing it as demonstrating the country's "counteraction will" against its enemies. The remarks came about five hours after the South Korean military said the North fired an ICBM on a lofted trajectory into the East Sea earlier in the day in its first launch of such a missile this year. According to Yonhap News Agency, at the launch site, Kim stated that the test-fire is "an appropriate military action" aimed at informing its enemies of his country's counteraction will, as reported by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). Kim affirmed that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) would never alter its strategy of enhancing its nuclear forces. Kim further highlighted that the ICBM launch is "an indispensable process" for developing North Korea's strategic attack capabilities in response to what he described as a "dangerous tightening" of its rivals' nucle ar alliances and military maneuvers. In the same KCNA dispatch, a spokesperson for North Korea's defense ministry labeled the ICBM launch as "a very crucial test," conducted under Kim's directive, which demonstrated the "modernity and credibility" of the North's strategic deterrent. The South Korean military speculated that the North fired a new type of solid-fuel ICBM, potentially as a strategic move to gain leverage before the upcoming U.S. presidential elections and to divert attention from criticism regarding its troop deployment to Russia.