Watch North Korea's New Hypersonic Missile Test Directly, Kim Jong-un: Prevent Nuclear War
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un praised the development of the country's missile program as a nuclear war prevention while overseeing a new medium-range hypersonic ballistic missile (IRBM) test on Monday, state media reported KCNA.
Leader Kim praised the missile as a powerful weapon to address the security threats posed by enemy forces and the changing regional security environment.
"The development of a new type of hypersonic missile is primarily aimed at continuing to put the country's nuclear war prevention on an advanced basis by making it a means to change the war situation, an armament system that no one can respond to, as a key to strategic prevention," he said.
Earlier, the South Korean military said on Monday, an IRBM suspected to have traveled more than 1,100 kilometers (690 miles) east before falling into the sea.
The missile was fired on the outskirts of Pyongyang and flew about 1,500 km (932 miles) at a speed of 12 times the speed of sound and reached a maximum altitude of nearly 100 km before landing accurately on a target off the east coast, KCNA said Tuesday.
The carbon fiber composite material was only used in missile engines, so the missile could "effectively penetrate a tight defense barrier and deliver a serious military blow to the opponent," he reported.
Yesterday's launch was the first since November 5, coinciding with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit to South Korea.
The trial also lasted less than two weeks before US President-elect Donald Trump took office. Previously, Trump in his first administration held a meeting with Leader Kim, something unprecedented.
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Pyongyang has developed a new solid-fueled hypersonic IRBM, amid increasingly fierce competition to get next-generation long-range rockets that are difficult to track and intercept.
Last year's trial featured a new solid-fueled design and carried what Pyongyang calls a hypersonic glide vehicle, a warhead designed to maneuver and evade missile defenses.