Seoul
North Korea on Wednesday claimed it has successfully test-fired a new intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) tipped with a hypersonic warhead, saying that all missiles the country has developed are now solid-fuel and nuclear-capable with warhead control capability.
The latest launch came about three months after North Korea test-fired an intermediate-range hypersonic missile on January 14. Last month, it conducted a ground jet test of a solid-fuel engine for a new IRBM loaded with a hypersonic warhead.
Kim described the Hwasong-16 missile as a ‘powerful, strategic offensive weapon’.
A hypersonic missile travels at a speed of at least Mach, 5 five times the speed of sound and is designed to be maneuverable on unpredictable flight paths and fly at low altitudes.
The sources said that the hypersonic glide warhead reached its first peak at a height of 101.1 km and the second at 72.3 km while making a 1,000-km-long flight as planned to accurately hit waters in the East Sea.
Citing war drills by North Korea’s enemies, Kim said, it is the most urgent task at present for our state to develop the overwhelming power capable of containing and controlling the enemies.
North Korea has been ramping up weapons tests this year, including the launches of cruise missiles from sea and land and firing drills involving super-large multiple rocket launchers.
