North Korea said Tuesday its latest weapons test was a new hypersonic intermediate-range missile designed to strike remote targets in the Pacific as leader Kim Jong Un vowed to further expand his collection of nuclear-capable weapons to counter rival nations. The North Korean state media report came a day after South Korea’s military said it detected North Korea launching a missile that flew 1,100 kilometers (685 miles) before landing in waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan. The launch, conducted weeks before Donald Trump returns as U.S. president, came off a torrid year in weapons testing. North Korea demonstrated multiple weapons systems last year that can target its neighbors and the United States, including solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missiles, and there are concerns that its military capabilities could advance further through technology transfers from Russia, as the two countries align over the war in Ukraine. North Korea in recent years has flight tested various intermediate-range missiles, which if perfected, could reach the U.S. Pacific military hub of Guam. In recent months, North has been testing combining these missiles with purported hypersonic warheads to improve their survivability. North Korea since 2021 has been testing various hypersonic weapons designed to fly at more than five times the speed of sound. The speed and maneuverability of such weapons aim to withstand regional missile defense systems. However, it’s unclear whether these missiles are consistently flying at the speeds the North claims. The North’s state media said Kim supervised Monday’s launch, and that the weapon flew 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) and achieved a speed amounting to 12 times the speed of sound before accurately striking a sea target. South Korea’s military did not immediately comment on the North Korean assessment. The North’s state media said Kim supervised Monday’s launch, and that the weapon traveled 1,500 kilometers (932 miles), during which it reached two different peaks of 99.8 kilometers (62 miles) and 42.5 kilometers (26.4 miles) and achieved a speed amounting to 12 times the speed of sound, before accurately striking a sea target. Lee Sung Joon, spokesperson of South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the South Korean military believes North Korea was exaggerating capabilities of the system, saying the missile covered less distance and that there was no second peak. Lee said the test was likely a followup to another hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile test last April and said it would be difficult to use such systems in a relatively small territory like the Korean Peninsula. He said the South Korean and U.S. militaries were continuing to analyze the missile. Kim described the missile as a crucial achievement in his goals to bolster the North’s nuclear deterrence by building an arsenal “no one can respond to,” according to the official Korean Central News Agency. “The hypersonic missile system will reliably contain any rivals in the Pacific region that can affect the security of our state,” the agency quoted Kim as saying. Kim reiterated that his nuclear push was aimed at countering “different security threats the hostile forces posed to our state,” but KCNA didn’t mention any direct criticism toward Washington, Seoul or Tokyo. The launch took place while U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was visiting Seoul for talks with South Korean allies over the North Korean nuclear threat and other issues. In a news […]