North Korea said on Thursday it had tested a “cutting-edge” new hypersonic missile weapon system to bolster its defenses against adversaries. Seoul’s military revealed the launch on Wednesday, marking Pyongyang’s first such test in months.
The development comes just a week before global leaders, including US President Donald Trump, are set to meet in South Korea for a major regional summit.
A test designed to improve the “sustainability and effectiveness of strategic deterrence”
Top military official Pak Jong Chon said “the new high-end weapons system is clear evidence of the DPRK’s continuous improvement in self-defense technical capabilities,” state news agency KCNA, which uses North Korea’s official acronym, said.
KCNA added that the test was to improve the “sustainability and effectiveness of strategic deterrence against potential enemies”. There were no reports that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was present at the launch.
State media said two “hypersonic projectiles” were fired south of the capital Pyongyang and hit a target in the country’s northeast.
Images shared by KCNA showed the missile flying through the air before hitting its target and exploding in a hail of black dirt and smoke.
Hypersonic missiles travel at more than five times the speed of sound and can maneuver in mid-flight, making them difficult to track and intercept.
Russia, with which North Korea has deepened relations in recent years, and Iran against Israel deployed them with deadly effect on Ukrainian cities this year.
North Korean media did not provide details on the range, trajectory angle or speed of the new missiles. And Kim’s absence from the launch may indicate that Pyongyang was trying to “mitigate” its impact, Yang Moo-jin, former president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told AFP.
Yang added: “However, given its range, the hypersonic missile is clearly aimed at the south,” Yang added, noting the timing of the launch just days before the APEC summit.
During the US leader’s first term, Trump and Kim met three times, but their meetings failed to stop Kim’s development of nuclear weapons. Since then, Kim has grown closer to President Vladimir Putin, supported his war in Ukraine and appeared alongside Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping at a major military parade in Beijing last month, according to a Bloomberg report. Just days after attending the parade in Beijing, Kim oversaw a ground test of a high-thrust solid-fuel engine for long-range missiles, marking another advance in North Korea’s efforts to expand its nuclear arsenal.
