North Korean leader Kim Jong Un announced plans in 2021 to develop technologically advanced weapons, including hypersonic missiles.
North Korea may have launched a hypersonic missile, South Korea said, as intelligence agencies investigated a failed ballistic missile test early Wednesday.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the test took place around 5:30 a.m. (8:30 p.m. GMT Tuesday) and came from the area around Pyongyang.
Japan also detected the launch, with the Defense Ministry saying the weapon reached an altitude of about 100 km (62 miles) and flew east for more than 200 km (124 miles).
A JCS official later told reporters on condition of anonymity that the military was considering the possibility that the weapon was a hypersonic missile, noting that it had exploded in mid-air over the waters off the coast eastern North Korea.
The official told Yonhap News Agency that there appeared to be more smoke than in previous launches, raising the possibility of combustion problems. It also appears to be a solid-fuel missile, the official added.
Latest missile test came days after North Korea signed deal comprehensive strategic cooperation treaty with Russia and like the American aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt arrived in Busan participate in joint military exercises with South Korea and Japan.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un announced in 2021 his desire to modernize his country’s military and revealed plans to develop a series of technologically advanced weapons systems, including a hypersonic missile.
Such missiles are considered harder to detect because they can travel at speeds greater than five times the speed of sound and are designed to be maneuverable, posing a challenge to regional missile defense systems.
Pyongyang said in March it had successfully tested a solid fuel engine for a new type of hypersonic intermediate-range missile (IRBM), and the following month reported that Kim had supervised the test of this IRBM, which he named the Hwasong-16B.
Tensions in the region have risen as Kim has accelerated North Korean testing of missiles and other weapons. The United States and South Korea responded by expanding their combined training and trilateral exercises involving Japan, and refining their deterrence strategies.
North Korea earlier this week criticized the deployment of the Theodore Roosevelt and warned of an “overwhelming new display of deterrence.”
It also strengthened its defenses along the border with South Korea after suspending a 2018 military deal with South Korea meant to reduce tensions. He also sent more than 1,000 balloons filled with waste in the south, in retaliation for balloons carrying leaflets critical of the Kim regime and sent to North Korea by activists.
For its part, Seoul also suspended the military agreement and resumed certain propaganda broadcasts broadcast by loudspeakers along the border.
