North Korea conducts second missile test in 2 days as Blinken visits region — this one was hypersonic, Pyongyang claims
Seoul, South Korea — north korea Kim Jong Un said on Tuesday his latest weapons test was a new hypersonic medium-range missile designed to strike long-range targets in the Pacific, as leader Kim Jong Un vowed to further expand his nuclear weapons stockpile to counter hostile nations.
The day before North Korea’s official media reported that the South Korean military said it had discovered North Korea launches missile that travels 1,100 kilometers (685 miles) Then it landed in the sea between the Korean Peninsula and Japan. The launch comes just weeks before Donald Trump returns as U.S. president, capping a difficult year for weapons testing.
North Korea last year demonstrated a variety of weapons systems that can target its neighbors and the United States, including solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missiles, raising concerns that its military capabilities could be further enhanced through technology transfers from Russia as the two countries agree on strategic issues. . war in ukraine.
North Korea has tested a variety of medium-range missiles in recent years that, if perfected, could reach Guam, the U.S. Pacific military hub. In recent months, Pyongyang has been testing combining these missiles with so-called hypersonic warheads to improve their survivability.
Since 2021, North Korea has been testing a variety of hypersonic weapons that can fly at more than five times the speed of sound. The speed and maneuverability of such weapons are designed to defeat regional missile defense systems. However, it is unclear whether the missiles always flew at the speeds claimed by North Korea.
North Korea’s state media said Kim Jong Un oversaw Monday’s launch, in which the weapon flew 1,500 kilometers (932 miles), during which it reached two different peaks of 99.8 kilometers (62 miles) and 42.5 kilometers (26.4 miles), and reached The speed is 12 times faster than the speed of sound before accurately striking maritime targets.
Lee Sung-jun, spokesman for South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the South Korean military believed North Korea had exaggerated the system’s capabilities, saying the missile had a shorter range and that there was no second peak.
Lee said the test could be a follow-up to another test of a hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile last April, saying it would be difficult to use such a system on a relatively small territory like the Korean Peninsula. He said the South Korean and U.S. militaries were continuing to analyze the missile.
Kim Jong Un described the missiles as an important achievement in his goal of strengthening North Korea’s nuclear deterrence by building a nuclear arsenal “that no one can cope with,” the official Korean Central News Agency reported.
“The hypersonic missile system will reliably deter any competitor in the Pacific region that may affect our country’s security,” the agency quoted Kim as saying.
Kim reiterated that his nuclear program was aimed at countering “different security threats posed by hostile forces to our country,” but KCNA did not mention any direct criticism of Washington, Seoul or Tokyo.
The launch came as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Tokyo and Seoul for talks with allies in Japan and South Korea on the North Korean nuclear threat and other issues.
Blinken, during a news conference with South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yeol on Monday, condemned North Korea’s launches as a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions targeting North Korea’s weapons programs. He also reiterated concerns about a growing alliance between North Korea and Russia in Moscow’s war in Ukraine. Describing military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow as a “two-way street,” he said Russia has been providing military equipment and training to North Korea and “intends to share space and satellite technology.”
According to assessments by the United States, Ukraine and South Korea, North Korea has dispatched more than 10,000 troops and conventional weapons systems to support Moscow’s war operations. There are concerns that Russia may transfer advanced weapons technology to North Korea in return, which could increase the threat posed by Kim Jong Un’s nuclear-armed army.
At a year-end political meeting, Kim vowed to implement the “toughest” anti-U.S. policy and criticized the Biden administration’s efforts to strengthen security cooperation with Seoul and Tokyo, which he called an “aggressive nuclear military bloc.”
North Korean state media did not specify Kim Jong Un’s policy plans or mention any specific comments about Trump. During his first term as president, Trump met with Kim Jong Un three times over North Korea’s nuclear program.
Even if Trump returns to the White House, it is unlikely that diplomatic relations with North Korea will be restored quickly. Experts say Kim Jong Un’s strengthening position – built on his expansion of his nuclear arsenal, deepening of his alliance with Russia and weakening U.S. enforcement of international sanctions – poses new challenges for resolving the nuclear standoff.
