Kim Jong-un has said that his latest weapons program is intended for “self-defense”
North Korea has successfully tested a new hypersonic missile, state media announced on Tuesday. Developing such a nuclear-capable projectile is necessary to deter “hostile forces against our state,” North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said.
The missile launch took place on Monday, and was first reported by South Korean media. Although North Korea has reportedly been developing hypersonic missiles – commonly defined as projectiles that can fly five times the speed of sound or above – since 2021, all test launches before Monday’s flight had failed, according to Western media reports.
According to state news agency KCNA, the new missile was fired northeastward from a suburb of Pyongyang and struck a simulated target in the open sea some 1,500 kilometers away. The missile reached a peak height of 99.8 kilometers and a second peak of 42.5 kilometers, KCNA reported, indicating that it is capable of changing course mid-flight rather than following a set ballistic trajectory.
KCNA described the missile as “intermediate-range,” defined as having a range of between 3,000 and 5,500 km. Lightweight carbon-fiber materials were used in its construction, the report stated, adding that it can “effectively penetrate any dense defense barrier and inflict a serious military blow on the opponent.”
Over the last decade, Russia and China have emerged as leaders in the race to develop hypersonic weapons. Russia’s first hypersonic missile – the air-launched Kh-47 Kinzhal – entered service in 2017, while China’s DF-ZF was deployed two years later. Russia’s Avangard strategic range glide vehicles – which can fly at 25 times the speed of sound – have been fielded since 2019, and its Zircon anti-ship cruise missiles have been deployed since last year.
Russia has used Kinzhal and Zircon missiles throughout the Ukraine conflict, and in November carried out the first combat test of its new ‘Oreshnik’ intermediate-range ballistic missile when it struck Ukraine’s Yuzhmash military industrial facility in the city of Dnepr.
The US conducted its first successful hypersonic missile test in 2017, but after a series of aborted tests and scrapped projects in the years since, has yet to actually field such a weapon.
Hypersonic weapons are necessary “to cope with different security threats posed by the hostile forces against our state at present,” Kim declared after Monday’s test. “The development of the new-type hypersonic missile is aimed mainly at putting the country’s nuclear war deterrent on an advanced basis,” the North Korean leader continued, adding that “this is clearly a plan and effort for self-defense, not an offensive plan.”
Despite a brief detente during former US President-elect Donald Trump first term in office, the US and South Korea have increased the scale and frequency of their military exercises in recent years. Pyongyang has responded by stepping up its missile testing program, firing more than 100 ballistic and cruise missiles since 2022.
In late December 2024, Kim vowed to keep improving the country’s defenses and “aggressively” pursue the “toughest anti-US counteraction” to date.
