Kim Jong-un calls intercontinental missile test a 4th of July ‘gift to American b******s’

Kim Jong-un has said North Korea’s test of an intercontinental ballistic missile was an Independence Day ‘gift’ to ‘American b******s’.

The US confirmed that North Korea carried out the test of an ICBM on Tuesday, with secretary of state Rex Tillerson calling the move ‘a new escalation of the threat to the world’.

He said the US will bring North Korea’s action before the United Nations Security Council, as his country and South Korea conducted their own joint ballistic missile drill.

But Kim Jong-un has vowed never to abandon nuclear weapons, warning that he will keep sending the US ‘gift packages’ of missile and atomic tests.

State media in Pyongyang reported that the North Korean leader had a ‘broad smile’ after his country’s first launch of an ICBM, and that he was ‘feasting his eyes’ on the missile.

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The test is part of North Korea’s plan to build an arsenal of long-range nuclear-armed missiles with the capability of reaching the US.

But analysts believe it will take several years and many more tests for this to become a reality.

However, a successful first launch of an ICBM is a clear warning sign that Kim Jong-un is determined to carry through his nuclear plans.

State media said that ‘with a broad smile on his face’, Kim Jong-un urged scientists to ‘frequently send big and small “gift packages” to the Yankees.’

The report said the North Korean leader told ‘scientists and technicians that the US would be displeased to witness the DPRK’s strategic option as it was given a “package of gifts” incurring its disfavour by the DPRK on its ‘Independence Day”.’

North Korea has a history of conducting weapons test close to July 4.

Kim Jong-un reportedly ‘stressed that the protracted showdown with the US imperialists has reached its final phase and it is the time for the DPRK to demonstrate its mettle to the US, which is testing its will in defiance of its warning’.

In its joint drill, the US and South Korea fired missiles into waters off South Korea.

The US tracked the North Korean missile for 37 minutes, amid claims a weapon of its kind could potentially reach Alaska, 4,000 miles away, if not the rest of the US.