North Korea on Tuesday hailed its test-firing of a new intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile the previous day, claiming it was successful and contained a system that could "deal a serious military strike to a rival.”
Confirming Monday's test-firing, Pyongyang’s state media the Korean Central News Agency said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un oversaw the test himself, with his daughter believed to be named Ju-ae, accompanying him.
The new missile was launched from the outskirts of Pyongyang, and flew some 1,500 kilometers at 12 times the speed of sound, the KCNA said. The IRBM first reached an altitude of 99.8 kilometers then a “second peak” of 42.5 kilometers before hitting a planned target off the east coast. A new carbon fiber compound was used to manufacture the engine body of the missile, a technology that the KCNA described as capable of “breaking any dense defensive barrier.”
If Pyongyang’s claim is true, it would mark the farthest distance covered by a North Korean hypersonic missile.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday that the North test-fired a suspected hypersonic missile, which flew about 1,100 kilometers before plunging into the East Sea. A JCS official told reporters that they saw the latest launch as an “extension” of its tests on hypersonic missiles, fired for the first time in January and then for the second in April last year. The assessment came despite its flight range being short of the usual 3,000- to 5,500-kilometer range of standard IRBMs.
North Korean leader Kim highlighted the development of the missile as part of his plan to put the regime’s nuclear weapons program “on an advanced basis,” according to the KCNA.
"The development of new-type hypersonic missile is mainly aimed to steadily put the country's nuclear war deterrent on an advanced basis," Kim was quoted as saying, according to the KCNA. He added that the hypersonic missile system would be capable of containing “any rivals in the Pacific region” and that it “can deal a serious military strike to a rival while effectively breaking any dense defensive barrier.”
The South’s military called the KCNA report exaggerated, questioning the flight distance of about 1,500 kilometers and the existence of a “second peak.”
“We assess the North’s claims of (the missile’s) flight distance and the second peak as highly likely to be a deception – there was no second peak,” JCS spokesperson Col. Lee Sung-jun told a regular briefing.
A “second peak” is crucial to a hypersonic missile, as it implies that the missile is capable of changing course and maintaining altitude and not just falling on a ballistic trajectory.
Hong Min, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification, pointed out that despite the North presenting the latest missile model as “new” the IRBM fired Monday was an upgraded model from the one fired in April 2024.
“While the North is describing the missile as a new model, it is similar to the Hwasong-16b IRBM (first unveiled in April last year). The latest one seems like an upgrade of the previous model equipped with new materials and technology,” Hong said.
Col. Lee also said that “there is a possibility,” that Pyongyang has been developing its missile program via “technological cooperation” with Moscow, amid a deepening military alliance between the two countries.
The North’s claims of using carbon fiber, an aerospace material known for being lighter and stronger than aluminum, but relatively more difficult to manufacture, has raised suspicions that Pyongyang has received technological assistance from Moscow. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during his visit to Seoul on Monday that Russia is planning to provide “advanced space and satellite technology” to the North, in exchange for Pyongyang’s troops and equipment for its war against Ukraine. South Korea’s intelligence agency has said that some 11,000 North Korean soldiers were deployed to Russia, with many later killed or injured.
Monday’s test launch came less than two weeks ahead of US President-elect Donald Trump’s scheduled return to office for a second term. In 2018, Trump and Kim Jong-un were the first sitting US president and North Korean leader to hold talks.
“The test-firing came 15 days ahead of Trump’s scheduled inauguration. It is clear that the launch was a message to Washington, to improve its relations with Pyongyang as equal nuclear weapons states,” Hong explained.
