North Korea has successfully tested a hypersonic missile, state media reported on Thursday, in the country’s first weapons test this year, quickly criticized by the United States.
The missile tested was loaded with a “sliding hypersonic warhead” that “accurately hit a target 700 km away,” reported the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
+ North Korea fires alleged missile while South Korea advances on “peace” railroad
This is the second test notified by North Korea of a hypersonic missile, a state-of-the-art weapon, which represents the latest technological advance in its arsenal.
The test shot this Wednesday “reconfirmed the flight control and stability of the missile in the active flight stage and evaluated the performance of the new technique of lateral movement applied to the hypersonic warhead”, detailed the KCNA.
South Korea and Japan on Wednesday detected the launch of an alleged North Korean ballistic missile, which fell into waters east of the Korean peninsula.
The launch followed a series of weapons tests carried out between September and October by North Korea and was criticized by Seoul, Tokyo and Washington.
“This release violates multiple UN Security Council resolutions and poses a threat to the neighbors of the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) and the international community,” said a US State Department spokesman. “We remain committed to a diplomatic rapprochement with the DPRK and we ask them to dialogue,” he added.
The South Korean Army reported that its northern neighbor launched what “presumably was a ballistic missile” into waters east of the Korean peninsula at around 8:10 am (20:10 am EDT).
The launch was made from Jagang province, on the border with China, according to the South Korean military.
After an emergency meeting, the South Korean National Security Council “expressed concern about the launch,” according to a note from the presidential office.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida described the incident as a “possible ballistic missile launch”. “It is really unfortunate that North Korea has continued to launch missiles since last year,” said Kishida, noting that his government is studying the details of the operation, including the number of projectiles launched.
Japanese government spokesman Hirozaku Matsuno said that if the artifact “has followed a normal orbit, it must have traveled about 500 kilometers and fallen outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone.”
In his first decade in power, dictator Kim Jong-un prioritized the country’s weapons and nuclear development, though this has led to significant international sanctions.
Despite the country’s economic problems having been aggravated by the coronavirus pandemic, the isolated communist regime maintained this strategy with a series of military tests between September and October 2021. As neighboring countries claim, these tests were resumed on Wednesday.
The launch comes after Kim Jong-un last week expressed his commitment to continue developing the country’s military capabilities at a meeting of his party.
“I believe North Korea will continue to refine its arsenal as a way to improve its strategic position in times of political change in the region,” Jean Lee, of Washington’s Woodrow Wilson International Center, told AFP.
– Message to Washington –
Between September and October 2021, the North Korean regime announced successful tests of long-range cruise missiles, ballistic missiles from a submarine and a train, in addition to what it called a hypersonic missile test.
Those announcements were accompanied by information about South Korea’s military progress, in what appeared to be signs of an arms race on the peninsula after negotiations on possible denuclearization in this troubled region failed.
The negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington were interrupted after the failure, in 2019, of the dialogue between Kim and the then President of the United States, Donald Trump. His successor, Democrat Joe Biden, has repeatedly declared the new government’s willingness to meet with North Korean representatives, but Pyongyang is silent on the matter and accuses Washington of maintaining its “hostile” policy.
In its criticism of the launch, the US State Department reiterated its commitment to “a diplomatic rapprochement” with the isolated communist country, and asked it to “also commit to dialogue”.
“Pyongyang sends a message to the United States that it will not change and therefore Washington must give in,” Shin Beom-chul of the Korean National Strategy Research Institute said in a conversation with AFP.
In addition to the economic consequences of international sanctions, North Korea suffers from the self-imposed blockade at its borders to keep out the coronavirus. The current situation leads the UN to fear a major food crisis in this territory.
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