US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken criticized North Korea's missile and nuclear programs during the US-Japan talks in the "two plus two" format, in which the foreign ministers and defense ministers of the two countries took part.

Separately, Blinken drew attention to the recent tests of the missile, which was called hypersonic in Pyongyang.

“The DPRK's illegal nuclear and missile programs are a constant threat, as we witnessed this week with the latest launch.

Such aggressive actions threaten a rules-based world order to which both of our countries have made major contributions, ”Blinken said.

According to him, the "challenges" that the US-Japan alliance has to face also include "violations of international norms" by China and Russia, including the actions of the PRC in the Taiwan Strait and the East China Sea, "military build-up" in borders with Ukraine and deepening cooperation between Moscow and Beijing.

Blinken expressed the opinion that the United States and its allies need to not only strengthen existing instruments, but also create new ones.

In this context, he announced plans to sign two defense agreements with Tokyo.

“First, we will sign a new five-year host country support framework agreement that will devote more resources to improving our readiness and engagement.

And we are also launching a new research and development agreement that will help our scientists, engineers and program managers more easily collaborate on emerging defense challenges, from countering hypersonic threats to developing space capabilities. " Blinken said.

He also expressed confidence that the United States and Japan together will be able to "outperform anyone in competition and innovation."

North Korean hypersound

We will remind, on January 6, the Central Telegraph Agency of Korea (CTAC) announced the testing of a new rocket.

"The DPRK National Defense Academy conducted a test launch of a hypersonic missile," the agency informed.

As follows from the message, the tests took place on January 5, and the missile warhead "hit the target at a distance of 700 km without deflection."

It was noted that during the flight, the hypersonic projectile carried out multi-stage maneuvering.

  • North Korean ballistic missile on parade in October 2020

  • AP

  • © KRT

The test launch confirmed the "controllability and stability of the rocket", noted in the publication of the CTAC.

The agency stressed that a successful test is of strategic importance and accelerates the implementation of the task of modernizing the strategic armed forces.

In recent years, the DPRK has been actively involved in the development of ballistic missiles, which has caused fear and discontent from the United States, South Korea and Japan.

An important milestone in North Korea's missile program was the testing of Hwasong-14 intercontinental ballistic missiles in the summer of 2017.

Then Pyongyang demonstrated that for the first time in history, it had missiles that could theoretically reach US territory.

According to experts, at that time it played an important role in establishing a dialogue between the Donald Trump administration and the North Korean authorities.

However, until recently, nothing was known about the development of hypersonic weapons in the DPRK - the first test launch of the Hwaseong-8 missile, which is called hypersonic in Pyongyang, took place in mid-September 2021.

The Pentagon said that the launch on January 5 did not pose an immediate threat to the United States and its allies, but the tests themselves indicated the "destabilizing role" of the DPRK in the region.

At the same time, the military department admitted that they do not have additional information about the launched missile.

In turn, Japan has expressed an official protest in connection with the actions of Pyongyang.

“We have expressed a strong protest through diplomatic channels - through the embassy in Beijing,” TASS quotes the Secretary General of the Japanese Cabinet of Ministers, Hirokazu Matsuno.

In addition, according to media reports, in connection with the tests of a new hypersonic missile, Great Britain, France, Albania, Ireland and the United States have requested consultations from the UN Security Council.

"Spurs up the arms race"

It is worth noting that experts interviewed by RT are very restrained in assessing the success of North Korea in the field of hypersound, since there is not enough data to draw conclusions about the real progress of the DPRK in this area. Analysts state that the development of hypersonic weapons is an extremely difficult scientific and technical task, and so far only Russia has been able to develop and put into service such missiles. Specialists from China managed to make serious progress in this direction. At the same time, the United States faced difficulties in creating hypersonic systems.

“The question is what exactly was launched in North Korea.

Given the closed nature of the DPRK, it is difficult to answer this question.

And without such information, it is impossible to draw any conclusions.

In addition, the question arises: what exactly in this case can be considered a hypersonic weapon.

After all, for example, intercontinental ballistic missiles at a certain stage of flight also reach hypersonic speed.

And Pyongyang already has ICBMs, ”said Sergei Ermakov, an expert at the RISS Research Coordination Center.

  • News release about the launch of a new rocket by the DPRK

  • AP

  • © Ahn Young-joon

At the same time, he stressed that it cannot be denied that the DPRK has certain scientific and technical successes, including in the military sphere, therefore, missile development in this country must be taken seriously.

Yevgeny Kim, a leading researcher at the Center for Korean Studies at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, also believes that it is too early to draw any conclusions regarding North Korean hypersonic developments.

“The problem is not only to get the rocket to develop hypersonic speed, but also to make it controllable.

It is known that the DPRK is really working on this.

According to the authorities, they created the rocket itself and withstood the high-speed hypersonic regime.

The whole question is in efficiency - to what extent their projectile is controllable in flight, ”Kim said.

At the same time, analysts doubt that the possible appearance of hypersonic weapons in the DPRK could radically change the balance of power on the Korean Peninsula and in the region as a whole.

In this respect, according to experts, a much more important role is played by the presence of nuclear weapons in Pyongyang.

“Hypersound is not a weapon that can radically change something.

But nuclear weapons can, and the DPRK already has them.

Although North Korea is not officially a nuclear power, the world community is inclined to believe that they have several nuclear warheads, ”stressed Sergei Ermakov.

Analysts also state that the development of the DPRK in the field of hypersound testifies to the growing arms race in the Asia-Pacific region.

“There is a certain tension.

The situation in the APR is influenced by the policy of the United States, which views this region as an arena for containing the PRC.

Hence the concept of the Indo-Pacific region put forward by Washington, which implies a strengthening of India's role as a counterbalance to China, hence the creation of new blocs like AUKUS.

All this spurs up the arms race, "Ermakov noted.

According to him, such a US policy only complicates the solution of the North Korean problem.

“In an environment of growing confrontation, the DPRK will find it difficult to abandon its nuclear program and the development of missile weapons,” the analyst is convinced.

Evgeny Kim adheres to a similar position.

“North Korea is not going to be the first to go on the offensive.

However, it will develop its defense systems in order to protect itself from possible aggression.

Indeed, until recently, under Trump, Washington seriously considered the possibility of an attack on the DPRK.

By creating such a weapon, Pyongyang thereby warns Washington against such steps, "concluded Kim.