/North-Korea-Fake-Monster-Missile-Testy.jpg "North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reacts next to military officials during what state media reports said was the launch of the \"Hwasong-17\" intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). (KCNA/REUTERS)")
As experts have nicknamed it, South Korea has refused North Korea's allegation that it launched a "monster missile" last week.
On Wednesday, South Korea's military accused the North of using an older, less powerful weapon rather than a newly built intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), as Pyongyang claimed.
North Korea announced last Thursday that it successfully tested a Hwasong-17 missile — its longest-range intercontinental ballistic missile — in the country's most potent weapons test in years.
Pyongyang's state media dubbed the launch "a historic event."
Seoul refutes Pyongyang's launch allegations.
Seoul's military has stated that it was, in fact, the same intercontinental ballistic missile North Korea launched in 2017.
"US and South Korean intelligence has determined that what was fired on March 24 was a Hwasong-15," a defense ministry official told AFP.
According to South Korea's Defense Ministry, the details of Thursday's launch, including the weapon's speed, combustion, and stage separation, were comparable to those of the Hwasong-15, not the Hwasong-17.
According to the ministry, Pyongyang's claimed bogus announcement was most likely intended to compensate for a failed Hwasong-17 launch earlier this month.
According to South Korean reports, the missile launched on March 16 from the North's capital region burst shortly after liftoff, with residents of Pyongyang witnessing the mid-air explosion.
"Pyongyang residents must have been shocked" by the failed launch, which may have impacted public opinion of the Kim Jong Un dictatorship, conservative opposition lawmaker Ha Tae-Keung of South Korea's People's Power Party (PPP) told the press.
North Korea made no statement on the unsuccessful launch, and the country's state media have yet to reply to Wednesday's report by South Korean defense leaders.
North Korea has undertaken a barrage of missile tests since the start of the year, ostensibly to update its military arsenal and boost pressure on the US amid delayed nuclear talks between the two countries.
