North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency announced on Tuesday that a new type of intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile had been successfully tested, with leader Kim Jong Un hailing the weapon as a significant military achievement.
According to KCNA, the successful test took place on Monday. The launch was Pyongyang’s first missile test of 2025, and it occurred while Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in the region on what is expected to be his final foreign trip as America’s top diplomat.
KCNA reported that Kim personally oversaw the test.
Kim stated that the missile’s hypersonic glide vehicle traveled over 930 miles at 12 times the speed of sound. It reached two peaks of 62 miles and 26.4 miles before colliding with a simulated target at sea, according to North Korea’s leader.
The weapon’s development is “mainly aimed to steadily put the country’s nuclear war deterrent on an advanced basis by making the means of changing the war situation, the weapon system to which no one can respond, the linchpin of strategic deterrence,” Kim said, according to KCNA.
“This is clearly a plan and effort for self-defense, not an offensive plan and action,” Kim pointed out.
“The performance of our latest intermediate-range hypersonic missile system cannot be ignored worldwide and the system can deal a serious military strike to a rival while effectively breaking any dense defensive barrier,” according to the president.
The launch “clearly showed” Pyongyang’s “rivals” that the country is “fully ready to use even any means to defend our legitimate interests,” Kim added.
“The hypersonic missile system will reliably contain any rivals in the Pacific region that can affect the security of our state,” said Mr. Putin.
North Korea has conducted extensive weapons tests in recent years, including intercontinental ballistic missiles, medium-range rockets, and hypersonic weapons. The increase in tests occurred as Pyongyang’s relations with the United States and its regional allies deteriorated and it drew closer to Russia.
Since 2021, North Korea has been testing hypersonic weapons, which fly at more than five times the speed of sound and have a difficult trajectory to intercept.
South Korea questioned its neighbor’s purported test. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesperson, Lee Sung Joon, told The Associated Press that Seoul’s military believed Pyongyang was exaggerating its capabilities.
Lee stated that the missile traveled a shorter distance than Kim claimed, and that there was no second peak.
The most recent test came while Blinken was visiting South Korea and Japan, two key American regional allies.
Blinken condemned North Korea’s launch on Monday, calling it “yet another violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions,” and criticized Pyongyang for its material and personnel contributions to Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine.
