hankyoreh

The Rodong Sinmun reported on Thursday that the “Academy of Defence Science of the DPRK test-fired a hypersonic missile on Wednesday,” adding that the “Party Central Committee expressed great satisfaction at the result of the test-firing.” North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was not present at the launch. (KCNA/Yonhap News)

The ballistic missile that North Korea fired into the East Sea on Wednesday was reportedly a hypersonic missile with a speed above Mach 5. This is the second time the North has tested a hypersonic missile, following the Hwasong-8 on Sept. 28, 2021. The North explained that the test was in line with its policy of strengthening its national defense capabilities, but there are concerns that testing such a sophisticated weapon will raise tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

“The Academy of Defence Science of the DPRK test-fired a hypersonic missile on Wednesday,” North Korea’s state-run Rodong Sinmun reported on Thursday. “The Party Central Committee expressed great satisfaction at the result of the test-firing.”

“Having been detached after its launch, the missile made a 120 km lateral movement in the flight distance of the hypersonic gliding warhead from the initial launch azimuth to the target azimuth and precisely hit a set target 700 km away.”

While the Rodong Sinmun didn’t report the exact speed of the hypersonic missile, South Korean military authorities reportedly estimate that the missile launched on Wednesday had a speed in excess of Mach 5. That means the missile met the basic speed requirement of a hypersonic missile.

The Hwasong-8 missile that the North test-fired last September reportedly had a speed of Mach 3. In addition, the Hwasong-8’s warhead looked like a sleek glider, but the warhead in the latest test was conical in shape.

Since the original design didn’t reach the speed of a hypersonic missile, North Korean engineers appear to have redesigned the warhead to be conical in an attempt to reach a hypersonic speed of at least Mach 5. The North apparently upgraded the previous missile or developed a new type in just over three months.

A hypersonic missile combines the advantages of a ballistic missile and a cruise missile. This cutting-edge weapon is too fast to be spotted or shot down. That’s why hypersonic missiles are regarded as a game changer for the battlefields of the future.

While North Korea claimed that its hypersonic missile on Wednesday had “precisely hit a set target 700 km away,” South Korean and American intelligence authorities reportedly detected a shorter distance. It’s possible that the hypersonic missile crashed before reaching the target or that some other problem occurred.

South Korea’s military authorities have taken a cautious stance about this test launch, expressing the need for prudent and comprehensive analysis. They noted that for a hypersonic missile to be effective, it must combine maneuverability with accuracy.

“We’re currently carrying out a precise analysis of the data and characteristics detected in the ballistic missile launched by North Korea,” said Kim Jun-rak, spokesperson for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, during a press briefing at the Ministry of National Defense on Thursday, echoing his remarks from the previous day.

While the test launch on Wednesday can’t be regarded as a complete success, the North’s capability for developing hypersonic missiles has indeed improved.

“In the test launch the academy reconfirmed the flight control and stability of the missile in the active-flight stage and assessed the performance of the new lateral movement technique applied to the detached hypersonic gliding warhead,” the Rodong Sinmun reported.

“The test launch clearly demonstrated the control and stability of the hypersonic gliding warhead which combined the multi-stage gliding jump flight and the strong lateral movement,” the North Korean newspaper added.

Simply put, the newspaper said that the hypersonic glider reached its target through both vertical and horizontal flight.

Based on photos of the test launch printed in the Rodong Sinmun, this missile looks more similar in shape to the new maneuverable reentry vehicle (MaRV) that was unveiled at Self-Defence-2021, a defense development exhibition held to commemorate the 76th anniversary of the establishment of the Workers’ Party of Korea on Oct. 11, 2021, rather than the missile first test-launched on Sept. 28, 2021. This missile has fins attached on both sides as well as the top and bottom, allowing vertical and horizontal course adjustments in the final stage of flight that can confuse missile defense systems.

“The successive successes in the test launches in the hypersonic missile sector have strategic significance in that they hasten a task for modernizing [the] strategic armed force of the state put forward at the 8th Party Congress and help fulfill the most important core task out of the five top priority tasks for the strategic arms sector in the five-year plan,” the Rodong Sinmun said.

By describing this missile launch as being part of the five-year plan for weapon systems and defense science development that North Korea unveiled in January 2021, the North was apparently arguing that the launch shouldn’t be seen as a politically motivated show of force against South Korea or the US.

Even so, the launch can be interpreted as a strategic attempt to pressure South Korea and the US into making changes. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un didn’t observe this test launch, nor did he observe the earlier test launch last September.

But since the North continues to remain silent about South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s overtures for dialogue, including his proposal to formally end the Korean War, the North’s repeated test launches of advanced weapons also face criticism for undermining efforts to maintain stability.

In an emergency meeting of the standing committee of the National Security Council on Wednesday, South Korean officials only expressed “concern,” while avoiding the word “provocation,” which tends to irritate North Korea. Moon himself said that “we must not stop working for dialogue in order to fundamentally resolve this kind of situation” while attending the groundbreaking ceremony for a railroad between Gangneung and Jejin that took place in Goseong, Gangwon Province.

No mention of North Korea’s hypersonic missile was made in a meeting of the standing committee of the National Security Council held on Thursday afternoon and presided over by Suh Hoon, director of the Blue House National Security Office.

“We will be basing our judgment on a range of factors including the assessments of relevant ministries and the international community. We aren’t jumping to conclusions about North Korea’s intentions behind this launch,” South Korea’s Ministry of Unification said on Thursday.

By Lee Je-hun, senior staff writer; Kwon Hyuk-chul, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]