North Korea says it has fired a new hypersonic ballistic missile

Europe 1 with AFP // Photo credit: AFP PHOTO/KCNA VIA KNS 08:13 a.m., January 15, 2024

North Korea announced on Monday that it had successfully fired a new type of ballistic missile equipped with a maneuverable hypersonic warhead, a new technological advance in weaponry. The launch, Pyongyang's first of a solid-fueled intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile (IRBM), was detected by the South Korean military on Sunday afternoon.

The solid-fuel missile was "loaded with a hypersonic and maneuverable warhead," according to North Korea's state news agency KCNA. The test was intended to "verify gliding and maneuverability capabilities" as well as "the reliability of the newly developed new, high-thrust, multi-stage solid-fuel engine," KCNA explained.

The agency said the launch, the first reported by Pyongyang since the beginning of the year, "has never affected the security of a neighboring country and has nothing to do with the regional situation." The test comes amid concerns about a hardening of Pyongyang's stance. Last week, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un described South Korea as the country's "main enemy" that he would not hesitate to "annihilate."

South Korea's Defense Ministry condemned the launch and said it would result in an "overwhelming response" in the event of a "direct provocation" by Pyongyang.

'A clear provocation'

"This behavior by North Korea is a clear provocation that violates United Nations Security Council resolutions prohibiting the use of ballistic missile technology, we issue a stern warning and urge North Korea to stop immediately," he said in a statement. Solid-fuel missiles are easier to conceal and faster to launch, while hypersonic missiles can generally be maneuvered in flight to better hit targets.

Both technologies have long been on Kim's list of weapons technologies. "North Korea appears to be simultaneously pursuing the development of hypersonic missiles and intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs) using solid-fuel boosters," said Chang Young-keun, a missile expert at the Korea National Strategy Research Institute.

"Medium- to long-range hypersonic missiles will be particularly useful for hitting Guam while evading the U.S. missile defense system," he added, referring to the Pacific island where the United States is home to a major military base. In mid-December, the North Korean leader oversaw the launch of a Hwasong-18, a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), fired into the Sea of Japan.

KCNA on Monday released a single photo of the missile launch to accompany the information, without mentioning Kim's presence at the event. Ankit Panda, a U.S.-based analyst, told NK News that the image suggested the missile was equipped with a "manoeuvrable re-entry vehicle (MaRV)," meaning the warhead is capable of tracking targets on the ground.

More Accurate Weapons

Pyongyang is trying to develop more accurate weapons that can "better penetrate missile defenses," he added. Sunday's launch comes after artillery drills by North Korea in early January with live ammunition on its western coast, near South Korean islands where the civilian population has been called to safety.

Relations between the two Koreas are currently at their lowest point in decades. At the end of December, Kim ordered the acceleration of military preparations for a "war" that could "be started at any time." He denounced a "persistent and uncontrollable crisis situation", according to him, triggered by Seoul and Washington with their joint military exercises in the region.

Pyongyang successfully put a spy satellite into orbit last year, after South Korea said it received Russian technological aid in exchange for arms deliveries for Moscow's war in Ukraine. Russia and North Korea, longtime allies, have been showing a rapprochement since the North Korean leader's trip to the Russian Far East in September 2023 to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

KCNA said North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui will visit Russia this week at the invitation of his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. Last year, North Korea also enshrined its status as a nuclear power in its constitution and fired several intercontinental ballistic missiles, in violation of UN resolutions.

The United Nations Security Council has passed numerous resolutions calling on North Korea to end its nuclear and ballistic missile programs since Pyongyang conducted its first nuclear test in 2006.