North Korea says it test-fired hypersonic missile
FirstpostThe latest development in North Korea’s quest for cutting-edge weapons to threaten US and South Korean targets was the successful test-firing of a new ballistic missile fitted with a hypersonic manoeuvrable payload, which the country said on Monday. According to a brief article published by the official Korean Central News Agency, the solid-fuel intercontinental missile bears the description of being “loaded with a hypersonic manoeuvrable controlled warhead.” The test was meant to verify “the gliding and maneuvering characteristics” of the warhead and the “reliability of newly developed multi-stage high-thrust solid-fuel engines,” KCNA said. KCNA said that Sunday’s launch “never affected the security of any neighbouring country and had nothing to do with the regional situation.” However, it occurred only days after Pyongyang conducted live-fire drills along the country’s volatile maritime border with South Korea, prompting counter-exercises and evacuation orders for certain South Korean border islands. Top Russian officials, including Moscow’s defence and foreign ministers, also visited North Korea last year, with the flurry of trips both ways fanning concern among Kyiv’s allies over the possibility of a potential arms deal.