North Korea is testing a new stealth ballistic missile that will trigger a mass evacuation in Japan

KIM Jong-un sparked a mass evacuation in Japan as North Korea launched its first intercontinental ballistic missile in a month.

It is believed that the missile launched was a new type of more mobile, harder to detect weapon system.

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South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said the missile was fired at a high angle from near North Korea’s capital, Pyongyang.

It then crashed into the waters between the Korean peninsula and Japan after a 1,000 km flight.

The Armed Forces Group described the missile as medium- or long-range, while Japan’s defense minister said it was an ICBM-class weapon.

The South Korean military believes North Korea has launched a new type of ballistic missile, possibly using solid fuel, a defense official said on anonymity due to agency rules.

If the launch involved a solid-fuel ICBM, this would be the North’s first test of such a weapon.

North Korea’s well-known ICBMs all use liquid propellant systems, which require them to be refueled before launch.

But the fuel in a solid-fuel weapon is already loaded inside, making it easier to move and quicker to fire.

A solid-propellant ICBM is one of the key high-tech weapons Kim Jong-un has vowed to build to better deal with what he describes as US military threats.

Other weapons he plans to acquire are a multi-warhead missile, a nuclear submarine, a hypersonic missile, and a spy satellite.

Thursday’s launch prompted Japan to issue an evacuation order on a northern island.

It read: “Immediate evacuation inside the building or underground.

“The rocket is expected to fall around Hokkaido around 08:00.”

However, the order was later withdrawn.