North Korea: North Korea has stated that, as part of its ongoing efforts to develop more potent, difficult-to-detect weapons, it has tested a new solid-fuel missile equipped with a hypersonic warhead.
The launch coincided with Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui’s trip to Moscow. Pyongyang was suspected by many in the US and other countries of selling weapons to Russia for use in Ukraine in exchange for Russian technological know-how.
The launch was designed to test the reliability of new multi-stage, high-thrust solid-fuel engines and an intermediate-range hypersonic manoeuvrable controlled warhead, the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. It was detected by neighbouring Japan and South Korea.
The test firings “had nothing to do with the regional situation and never affected the security of any neighbouring country,” according to KCNA.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul said in a statement that the missile had flown about 1,000 kilometres (621 miles) in the direction of the East Sea and that officials in Tokyo, Washington, DC, and Seoul were examining the missile’s specifications. Japan’s Defence Ministry said its maximum altitude was at least 50km (30 miles).
On December 18, North Korea launched a Hwasong-18 solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) into the East Sea as its final missile test.
On November 11 and November 14, it conducted new solid-fuel engine tests for an intermediate ballistic missile. Last week, North Korean leader Mr. Kim Jong Un called Seoul his “principal enemy” and threatened to wipe out South Korea without hesitation.
The Republic of Korea, or South Korea, should be defined as a state that is most hostile to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, according to Mr. Kim’s historical definition, which KCNA reported.
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