North Korea says it test-fired hypersonic missile

The latest development in North Korea’s quest for cutting-edge weapons to threaten US and South Korean targets was the successful test-firing of a new ballistic missile fitted with a hypersonic manoeuvrable payload, which the country said on Monday. The launch, Pyongyang’s first known weapons test this year and its first test of a solid-fuel hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), was detected by Seoul’s military on Sunday afternoon. According to a brief article published by the official Korean Central News Agency, the solid-fuel intercontinental missile bears the description of being “loaded with a hypersonic manoeuvrable controlled warhead.” The test was meant to verify “the gliding and maneuvering characteristics” of the warhead and the “reliability of newly developed multi-stage high-thrust solid-fuel engines,” KCNA said. KCNA said that Sunday’s launch “never affected the security of any neighbouring country and had nothing to do with the regional situation.” However, it occurred only days after Pyongyang conducted live-fire drills along the country’s volatile maritime border with South Korea, prompting counter-exercises and evacuation orders for certain South Korean border islands. It also comes after Kim called Seoul his “principal enemy” and said he would not hesitate to demolish South Korea when touring key weapons facilities earlier this week. Solid-fuel missiles are easier to conceal and shoot, whereas hypersonic missiles allow the user to manoeuvre them in flight to better attack targets. Both technologies have long been on Kim’s weapons technology wish list. “North Korea appears to be pursuing the development of hypersonic missiles and IRBMs using solid fuel rocket boosters at the same time,” said Chang Young-keun, a missile expert at the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy. “Mid- to long-range hypersonic missiles will be particularly useful in striking Guam while evading the US missile defense system,” he added. North Korea’s last missile test was of a Hwasong-18 solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on December 18. A shift KCNA released a single photograph of the missile launch with its Monday report, which did not mention Kim being present to oversee the test. US-based analyst Ankit Panda told specialist site NK News that the image suggested the missile featured a so-called “maneuverable reentry vehicle (MaRV)”. Pyongyang is trying to develop weapons with enhanced precision and ability to “better penetrate missile defenses,” he said. Relations between the two Koreas are at one of their lowest points in decades, after Kim enshrined last year the country’s permanent status as a nuclear power into the constitution and test-fired several advanced ICBMs. Traditional allies Russia and North Korea have meanwhile boosted ties recently, with Kim making a rare overseas trip to see President Vladimir Putin in Russia’s far east in September. Top Russian officials, including Moscow’s defence and foreign ministers, also visited North Korea last year, with the flurry of trips both ways fanning concern among Kyiv’s allies over the possibility of a potential arms deal. On Sunday, a North Korean government delegation headed by Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui left for an official visit to Russia, KCNA reported. Last year, Pyongyang successfully put a reconnaissance satellite into orbit, after receiving what South Korea claimed was Russian assistance, in exchange for arms shipments for Moscow’s war in Ukraine. Despite its difficult economic situation, Pyongyang conducted a record-breaking series of weapons tests in 2023, including its first solid-fuel ICBM – which experts called a major technological breakthrough.