Seoul: North Korea test-launched hypersonic missiles in Pyongyang the previous day that successfully struck targets in the East Sea, with leader Kim Jong-un in attendance, state media reported Monday.
“A sub-unit under a major firing strike group of the Korean People’s Army conducted a missile launching drill” to evaluate the country’s war deterrence and the readiness of the weapon system, as well as to verify its capacity to fulfil missions, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.
South Korea’s military detected the missile launch at 7:50 a.m. Sunday, hours before President Lee Jae Myung departed for Beijing for summit talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and after the United States announced the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro in a large-scale military strike.
“Through today’s launching drill, we can confirm that a very important technology task for national defence has been carried out. The missile soldiers showed the readiness of the DPRK’s nuclear forces without regret and gave confidence in it,” the KCNA quoted Kim as saying.
DPRK refers to the official name of North Korea, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Yonhap news agency reported.
Kim said his country has put its nuclear forces “on a practical basis” and prepared them for “an actual war,” urging that the country must “continuously upgrade the military means, especially offensive weapon systems” and calling the efforts “an essential undertaking for self-defence.”
“To be honest, our such activity is clearly aimed at gradually putting the nuclear war deterrent on a highly developed basis. Why it is necessary is exemplified by the recent geopolitical crisis and complicated international events,” Kim was quoted as saying in the KCNA report.
Although the KCNA report did not specify what the “recent geopolitical crisis” is, the North’s foreign ministry Sunday condemned the US military strike that captured Maduro, calling it “the most serious form of encroachment of sovereignty.”
The KCNA said the hypersonic missiles hit targets 1,000 kilometres away in the East Sea after being launched from Pyongyang’s Ryokpho District.
Kim also expressed thanks to the military unit in charge of the drill and extended New Year’s greetings to all the officers and men of the missile forces.
He also voiced expectations that “All the missile forces would remain faithful to their sacred mission as a reliable shield for defending the sovereignty and security of the DPRK by fulfilling their consistent and responsible combat duty under iron discipline.”
Those who accompanied Kim at the latest missile launch included Kim Jong-sik, vice department director of the ruling party’s Central Committee, and Jang Chang-ha, chief of the Missile Administration.
The KCNA report did not provide specifics of the missiles launched, but South Korea’s military concluded they may be the Hwasong-11Ma, a hypersonic missile developed by attaching hypersonic payloads to the KN-23 missile.
The missile was first unveiled at a military parade in October last year and underwent its first test launch later that month.
The Korea Defence Forum, a nonprofit organisation, said in an analysis that while last year’s test appeared aimed at verifying short-range flight and precision, the latest test may have been designed to assess its range and low-altitude glide capability.
