North Korea has allegedly launched a ballistic missile that is believed to be tipped with a hypersonic weapon.
The Asian nation claimed that it flight-tested a new solid-fuel intermediate-range missile amid its continuous efforts for more powerful, harder-to-detect weapons. These are supposedly designed to strike remote U.S. targets in the region.
The report was made by North Korea's state media and came a day after the South Korean and Japanese militaries detected the missile launch from a site near the North Korean capital of Pyongyang. The latest incident is the North's first ballistic test of this year.
The launch also comes two months after North Korea said that it had successfully tested engines for a new solid-fuel intermediate-range missile. The effort reflected a push to advance the country's lineup of weapons that target U.S. military bases located in Guam and Japan.
The nation's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said that Sunday's launch was aimed at verifying the reliability of the missile's solid-fuel engines as well as the maneuverable flight capabilities of the hypersonic warhead. The Asian nation considered the test flight as a success, as per ABC News.
KCNA did not mention whether or not North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was present at the test launch of the missile. The news agency added that the test was part of North Korea's regular weapons development activities.
It noted that the test-fire never affected the security of any neighboring country and had nothing to do with the regional situation. This comes as South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said that the North's missile flew roughly 1,000 kilometers before landing in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.
The current intermediate-range missiles of North Korea, including the Hwasong-12, are powered by liquid-fuel engines. These need to be fueled just before launch and cannot stay fueled for long periods of time.
Missiles that have built-in solid propellants can be made ready to launch faster and are easier to move and hide. This theoretically makes it harder for adversaries to detect them and preempt the launch in advance, according to the Associated Press.
New Test Flight
Since 2021, North Korea has been testing hypersonic weapons, which are designed to fly at speeds beyond Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound. If they are perfected, such systems could potentially pose a challenge to regional missile defense systems due to their speed and maneuverability.
Hypersonic weapons were part of the North Korean leader's wish list of sophisticated military assets unveiled in 2021. The others include multi-warhead missiles, spy satellites, solid-fuel long-range missiles, and submarine-launched nuclear missiles.
In the last few weeks, North Korea has stepped up pressure on Seoul, declaring it the "principal enemy." It also added that it would never reunite with the South and vowed to enhance its ability to deliver a nuclear strike on the U.S. and America's allies in the Pacific.
The United States military said that the latest launch was not an immediate threat but highlighted the "destabilizing impact" of North Korea's weapons program, said Reuters.
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