The Saturday editions of all national papers reported that North Korea announced through its state media on Friday that it successfully test-fired a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile called the “Hwasong-17” on Thursday. The papers said Kim Jong Un, who was at the launch site, stressed that North Korea is “fully ready for a longstanding confrontation with the U.S. imperialists.” Asahi said this was the first time for North Korea to announce the launch of an ICBM since November 2017, adding that the DPRK has ended its self-imposed moratorium on nuclear tests and ICBM launches. Yomiuri wrote that the missile is believed to have fallen into the Sea of Japan within Japan’s EEZ about 150 km west of Hokkaido.