People watch a TV report on North Korea's missile launch at the Seoul Railway Station on Thursday. Photo: AP Photo/Ahn Young-joo
State media in North Korea said on Wednesday that the country had successfully test-fired a hypersonic missile, its first missile launch since October, which could equip the nuclear-armed country with a new weapon effective in evading missile defense systems. During the test launch, the second of a hypersonic missile after another launch in September, the missile made a 120-kilometer lateral movement and “precisely” hit a target 700 kilometers (435 miles) away, state news agency KCNA said. While conventional ballistic missiles fly toward outer space before returning to Earth on free-falling trajectories, hypersonic missiles can travel at five times the speed of sound and glide toward targets at low altitudes. They are also able to change course on the way, making it more difficult for them to be tracked and intercepted.The test came as outgoing South Korean president Moon Jae-in is pressing for a formal declaration to end the 1950-53 Korean War and improve inter-Korean relations. Pyongyang has not publicly responded to the call, while denuclearization talks on the Korean peninsula have stalled since 2019, with North Korea ramping up the testing of more sophisticated short-range missiles. The report of the missile test did not mention North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, but the leader recently marked the 10th anniversary of his rule and will celebrate his birthday on Saturday. International aid groups have warned of serious food shortages in the country, which have worsened due to self-imposed border lockdowns during the pandemic. The country claims to have no COVID-19 cases. North Korea joins a select few countries with hypersonic missile capabilities, including the U.S., Russia and China. The Financial Times reported that China tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile that circled the globe in August, but Beijing denied it had tested the weapon. A nuclear-capable hypersonic missile possessed by North Korea could pose serious danger to South Korea and Japan. In response to the latest test, Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi pledged to greatly strengthen the country’s defense capabilities. The U.S. State Department said the test was a violation of UN Security Council Resolutions and posed a threat to the international community.Follow Viola Zhou on Twitter.
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