North Korea said Tuesday its latest weapons test was a new hypersonic intermediate-range missile designed to strike remote targets in the Pacific as leader Kim Jong-un vowed to further expand his collection of nuclear-capable weapons to counter rival nations.
The North Korean state media report came a day after South Korea’s military said it detected North Korea launching a missile that flew 1,100 kilometres before landing in waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan. The launch, conducted weeks before Donald Trump returns as U.S. president, came off a torrid year in weapons testing.
North Korea demonstrated multiple weapons systems last year that can target its neighbours and the United States, including solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missiles, and there are concerns that its military capabilities could advance further through technology transfers from Russia, as the two countries align over the war in Ukraine.
North Korea in recent years has flight tested various intermediate-range missiles, which if perfected, could reach the U.S. Pacific military hub of Guam. In recent months, North Korea has been testing combining these missiles with purported hypersonic warheads to improve their survivability.
North Korea since 2021 has been testing various hypersonic weapons designed to fly at more than five times the speed of sound. The speed and ability to manoeuvre such weapons are aimed to withstand regional missile defence systems. However, it’s unclear whether these missiles are consistently flying at the speeds the North claims.
The North’s state media said Kim supervised Monday’s launch, and that the weapon travelled 1,500 kilometres, during which it reached two different peaks of 99.8 kilometres and 42.5 kilometres and achieved a speed amounting to 12 times the speed of sound, before accurately striking a sea target.
Lee Sung Joon, spokesperson of South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the South Korean military believes North Korea was exaggerating capabilities of the system, saying the missile covered less distance and that there was no second peak.
Lee said the test was likely a followup to another hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile test last April and said it would be difficult to use such systems in a relatively small territory like the Korean Peninsula. He said the South Korean and U.S. militaries were continuing to analyze the missile.
Launch comes on heels of visit by Blinken
Kim described the missile as a crucial achievement in his goals to bolster the North’s nuclear deterrence by building an arsenal “no one can respond to,” according to the official Korean Central News Agency.
“The hypersonic missile system will reliably contain any rivals in the Pacific region that can affect the security of our state,” the agency quoted Kim as saying.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is in North Korea for a rare visit and meeting with Leader Kim Jong Un, which has prompted concern in the West about military co-operation between the two countries.
Kim reiterated that his nuclear push was aimed at countering “different security threats the hostile forces posed to our state,” but KCNA didn’t mention any direct criticism toward Washington, Seoul or Tokyo.
The launch took place while U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was visiting Seoul for talks with South Korean allies over the North Korean nuclear threat and other issues.
In a news conference with South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul on Monday, Blinken condemned North Korea’s launch, which violated UN Security Council resolutions against the North’s weapons programs. He also reiterated concerns about the growing alignment between North Korea and Russia in Moscow’s war on Ukraine. He described the military co-operation between Pyongyang and Moscow as a “two-way street,” saying Russia has been providing military equipment and training to the North and “intends to share space and satellite technology.”
According to U.S., Ukrainian and South Korean assessments, North Korea has sent more than 10,000 troops and conventional weapons systems to support Moscow’s war campaign. There are concerns that Russia could transfer to North Korea advanced weapons technology in return, which could potentially enhance the threat posed by Kim’s nuclear-armed military.
At a year-end political conference, Kim Jong-un vowed to implement the “toughest” anti-U.S. policy and criticized the Biden administration’s efforts to strengthen security co-operation with Seoul and Tokyo, which he described as a “nuclear military bloc for aggression.”
North Korean state media did not specify Kim’s policy plans or mention any specific comments about Trump.
During his first term as president, Trump and Kim exchanged a series of bellicose threats after North Korean weapons tests, before meeting in person three times for talks that did not appear to substantially alter the relationship between the countries.
Even after Trump returns to the White House, a quick resumption of diplomacy with North Korea could be unlikely. Kim’s strengthened position — built on his expanded nuclear arsenal, deepening alliance with Russia and the weakening enforcement of U.S. international sanctions — presents new challenges to resolving the nuclear standoff, experts say.
