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North Korea declared on Thursday that it has successfully launched a hypersonic missile as part of its efforts to modernise its strategic weapons systems, only days after leader Kim Jong Un promised to develop his military despite pandemic-related challenges.
Wednesday’s launch, the North’s first known weapons test in in two months, suggests that the regime would press ahead with efforts to develop strong, sophisticated missiles rather than return to disarmament discussions anytime soon.
According to the official Korean Central News Agency, the governing Workers’ Party’s Central Committee expressed “great pleasure” with the outcomes of the missile launch watched by top weapons experts.
Since North Korea first fired a hypersonic missile in September, this is the second known test flight. It’s unclear whether the two hypersonic missiles are identical.
“The successive achievements in hypersonic missile test launches have strategic significance in that they speed the work of modernising the state’s strategic military force,” according to a KCNA dispatch. The term “strategic” means that the missile is being built with nuclear weapons in mind.
Because of their speed and mobility, hypersonic missiles, which travel at speeds exceeding Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound, could represent a significant threat to missile defence systems.
It’s unclear whether or when North Korea will be able to produce such a sophisticated missile, but it was on Kim’s wish list of sophisticated military assets, which included a multi-warhead missile, spy satellites, solid-fuelled long-range missiles, and submarine-launched nuclear missiles, which he revealed early last year.
The neighbours were the first to notice the North’s most recent launch.
It was a ballistic missile test, according to the US military, that “highlights (North Korea’s) illegal weapons program’s destabilising influence.” The launch has caused anxiety or regret in South Korea and Japan. North Korea should resume discussions with other countries, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.
Due to disagreements over international sanctions on North Korea, a US-led negotiation on the North’s nuclear programme has been deadlocked since 2019. The Biden administration has frequently urged for resuming nuclear diplomacy “anywhere and at any time” without preconditions, but North Korea has insisted that any discussions must first end the US’s animosity toward it.
Kim reiterated his pledge to expand his country’s military capabilities during last week’s plenary meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party’s Central Committee, without openly offering any new positions on Washington or Seoul.
Kim’s rule is based on the North’s growing nuclear weapons, which he refers to as “a strong cherished sword” that deters any US aggression. During his ten-year reign, he has carried out an exceptionally large number of weapons tests in order to gain the ability to launch nuclear strikes on the American mainland.
However, because to the COVID-19 pandemic, sanctions, and his government’s incompetence, his country’s economy has been seriously harmed over the last two years.
