North Korea claims it tested hypersonic missile to boost defence capabilities a ‘thousand-fold’
- Hypersonic missiles move far faster and are more agile than standard ones, making them much harder for missile defence systems to intercept
- But experts say Pyongyang’s technology is not comparable to the US, Russia or China and it may be ‘bluffing’ about the success of its weapons test
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North Korea state media has claimed the missile test-fired on Tuesday was a newly-developed hypersonic missile, making it the nuclear-armed nation’s latest advance in weapons technology.
Tuesday’s launch was of “great strategic significance”, the official Korean Central News Agency said on Wednesday, as the North seeks to increase its defence capabilities a “thousand-fold”.
Unlike ballistic missiles that fly into outer space before returning on steep trajectories, hypersonic weapons fly towards targets at lower altitudes and can achieve more than five times the speed of sound – or about 6,200 kilometres per hour (3,853 miles per hour). Only the United States, Russia and China currently have hypersonic missiles.
But South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff on Wednesday said it assessed details of the detected speed of the missile and found that the weapon was still in an early stage of development. It would take a “considerable period of time” until it could be deployed in combat, they said.
Yang Uk, a defence analyst at the Korea Defence Forum, downplayed the announcement as “bluffing” aimed to impress South Korea and the US.
“There are daunting technological hurdles to overcome in developing hypersonic gliding vehicles, including the extreme temperatures of hypersonic speed and difficulties in controlling movements,” Yang said.
“It’s hard to believe the North is making any significant progress in developing this potential game-changer.”
Chang Young-keun, a missile specialist at the Korea Aerospace University, said the North’s hypersonic gliding vehicle (HGV) was likely a failure, given that the flight clocked at Mach 2.5 – or 2.5 times the speed of sound. The HGVs being developed by world powers supposedly can travel more than 20 times the speed of sound, he said.
“The North’s HGV technology is not comparable to that of the US, Russia or China and for now seems to aim for a shorter range that can target South Korea or Japan,” he said.
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Chang said the HGV was loaded on a single-stage rocket but the HGVs being developed by world powers are carried by multiple-stage inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).
“What the North tested can hardly be called a HGV. But the new missile could pose threats to South Korea and Japan by making it harder for them to track and intercept.
“Even if the North wants to develop ICBM-carried HGVs, it would be difficult for it to conduct the flight tests without sparking an international backlash as such projectiles would well fly beyond the Korean peninsula and Japan and splash down in waters near the US,” he said.
What the North tested can hardly be called a hypersonic gliding vehicle
KCNA said the launch from Jagang province “confirmed the navigational control and stability of the missile”, along with its “guiding manoeuvrability and the gliding flight characteristics of the detached hypersonic gliding warhead” and the engine.
“The test results proved that all the technical specifications met the design requirements,” it added.
The official Rodong Sinmun newspaper carried a picture of the weapon – with a set of guidance fins at the base of its nose cone – ascending into the morning sky.
The South’s military had announced the launch shortly after it happened on Tuesday, but it did not reveal the missile’s maximum altitude and flight distance afterwards, information that it normally makes available within around an hour.
01:17
North Korea tells UN it has the ‘right’ to test weapons
The nuclear-armed North, which invaded the South in 1950, is under multiple sets of international sanctions over its banned nuclear weapon and ballistic missile programmes, and earlier this month said it had tested a long-range cruise missile.
Developing the hypersonic missile was one of five “top priority” tasks in the five-year plan for strategic weapons, KCNA said.
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Since inheriting power following the death of his father nearly 10 years ago, Kim has overseen rapid improvements in the North’s arsenal, including developing intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that can reach the whole of the continental US and by far its most powerful nuclear test to date.
In January, Kim offered a shopping list of goals that as well as hypersonic warheads also included a nuclear-powered submarine, military reconnaissance satellites and solid-fuel ICBMs at a five-yearly congress of the ruling Workers’ Party – a meeting at which he described the US as his country’s “principal enemy”.
There are daunting technological hurdles to overcome in developing hypersonic gliding vehicles, including the extreme temperatures of hypersonic speed and difficulties in controlling movements
“We don‘t need to be shocked by [the latest] announcement,” Yang of the Korea Defence Forum said. “The North’s military has to follow Kim’s orders and show progress is being made.”
A hypersonic missile exceeds Mach-5 (3,800mph), or five times faster than the speed of sound, and therefore makes currently operational defence systems powerless.
After being launched into space on an arching trajectory, the warheads attached to a glide vehicle surf at the atmosphere between 40km and 100km in altitude, and reach their destination by leveraging aerodynamic forces instead of being left at the mercy of gravitational forces, as in the case of traditional ICBMs.
Kim Dong-yup, a professor at Kyungnam University’s Far East Institute, said hypersonic gliding vehicles followed a much flatter and lower trajectory compared with traditional ballistic missiles, it was hard to detect and intercept them.
A race to develop hypersonic weapons has been intensifying among world powers with these developments having wider ramifications for the region.
01:25
North and South Korea test fire ballistic missiles hours apart
South Korea is spending billions on military development and this month successfully test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) for the first time, making it one of a handful of nations with the advanced technology.
On Tuesday, it held a ceremony to launch its third submarine capable of carrying SLBMs.
Washington and Seoul are security allies and the US stations around 28,500 troops in the South to protect it from its neighbour. While denuclearisation talks between Pyongyang and Washington have been largely at a standstill since 2019, the US has said it is willing to meet North Korean officials to seek denuclearisation. But the North has not shown any willingness to give up its arsenal.
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South Korea’s top nuclear envoy and the US Special Representative for North Korea are expected to meet in Jakarta on Thursday to discuss ways to cooperate in dealing with Pyongyang.
Lim Eul-chul, a professor at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies at Kyungnam University, said the North was looking to use its weapons development “as a means to make room for diplomatic manoeuvring as well as enhancing military posture”.
More launches could be expected in the future, he added.
“In a way, the North’s recent behaviour is very predictable. They had signalled military actions and are now executing them step by step.”
