SEOUL: North Korea’s Academy of National Defense Science successfully test-fired a hypersonic missile on Tuesday, the country’s state-run Korean Central News Agency reported Wednesday.

Japan, the United States and South Korea detected North Korea’s missile launch toward the Sea of Japan on Tuesday.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un observed the firing, the KCNA said, apparently trying to highlight the country’s efforts to strengthen its war deterrent power.

North Korea had claimed that it test-fired a hypersonic missile also on Jan. 5.

Hypersonic missiles fly at five times the speed of sound or faster and have irregular trajectories, which make them difficult to be intercepted with existing missile defense systems, pundits said.

The KCNA reported that Wednesday’s firing was for the final verification of the overall technical characteristics of North Korea’s hypersonic weapon systems.

According to the report, a hypersonic gliding vehicle that was detached from the missile flew on an irregular trajectory, making a jump flight 600 kilometers ahead and making a 240-kilometer corkscrew before hitting a target 1,000 kilometers away.

The KCNA said the warhead’s superb maneuverability was proved through the test.

The top North Korean leader highly appreciated the achievement and expressed special thanks in the name of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea to the scientists and engineers involved in the missile’s development, according to the report.

He stressed that North Korea should strengthen its strategic military power both in quality and quantity and in a sustainable way and spur the struggle to enhance the modernity of its armed forces, the KCNA said. The leader also urged the scientists and engineers to continue to achieve good results in the historic sacred work to drastically strengthen the country’s war deterrent power, according to the report.

JIJI Press