On Tuesday, North Korea said its recent missile test was for a “highly significant new weapons system. The launch was made using a missile described in the past as hypersonic, state media photos show. Kim Jong Un, who watched the Sunday test with his teenage daughter, said the system would help strengthen the nation’s war preparedness and would become an “incurable headache” for its enemies, but he did not make a specific mention of the exact capabilities of the system.
South Korea’s military tracked down 2 short-range missiles launched three hours apart from the eastern coastal town of Wonsan. Officials estimated the distance travelled by the projectiles was about 450 kilometres (280 miles) towards the sea and 600 kilometres (370 miles) towards the land. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defense of Japan has confirmed the missiles have fallen in waters outside Japan’s EEZ.
The launches come as part of a string of military displays, such as live-firing exercises and the commissioning of a new warship. Pyongyang has built up a large arsenal of nuclear capable ballistic missiles in years of stepped up testing that it believes will allow it to overwhelm regional defenses. North Korea have been working on what it claims are hypersonic weapons, which are capable of supersonic speeds of over five times the speed of sound. Their fast and agile nature is designed to evade interception, however, Pyongyang’s claims of their speed have been disputed by international experts and analysts in the U.S. Department of Defense.
Photographs in state media of the recent tests showed two missiles carrying conical, finned vehicles being fired from launcher trucks. Kim is seen observing a screen displaying information that it is a missile called the Hwasong-11Ma, which Pyongyang has previously described as hypersonic.
The current spate of arms shows have continued despite the recent announcement by The White House that it will reduce joint military exercises with South Korea, which Capston had ordered last month in an apparent attempt to make a comeback at the diplomatic table. But senior North Korean official Kim Yo Jong immediately brushed aside the move, saying the length of the maneuvers “has nothing to do with their basic nature, which is provocative and aggressive.
Kim Jong Un seems to be looking for more leverage for any future talks, bolstered by his growing nuclear power ambitions and strengthening ties with Russia and China. Pyongyang keeps saying that it is waiting for the U.S. Department of State and its counterparts to end all “hostile policies” before talks on its nuclear disarmament are resumed, a reference to the international sanctions coordinated by the U.N. and to joint military exercises.
