North Korea’s successful firing of a hypersonic missile on Jan. 6 is widely reported in both the Western and Russian media. For example, ABC News wrote that the Korean Central News Agency on Jan. 7 reported that a new type of intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile had been successfully tested on Jan. 6. President Kim Jong Un personally oversaw the test, and also reported that the missile’s hypersonic glide vehicle had traveled more than 930 miles at 12 times the speed of sound. He said that it is a “weapon system to which no one can respond, the linchpin of strategic deterrence… This is clearly a plan and effort for self-defense, not an offensive plan and action.”
“The performance of our latest intermediate-range hypersonic missile system cannot be ignored worldwide and the system can deal a serious military strike to a rival while effectively breaking any dense defensive barrier,” Kim added. “The hypersonic missile system will reliably contain any rivals in the Pacific region that can affect the security of our state,” he said.
Although South Korean authorities said that Kim was exaggerating the weapon’s capabilities, the Russians—with whom, it should be recalled, North Korea recently signed a military and defense pact—gave it credence. TASS reported on some of the details of KCNA’s coverage:
“The hypersonic glide vehicle of the missile fired northeastward at a launching ground in a suburb of Pyongyang reached its first peak at the height of 99.8 kilometers and the second peak at the height of 42.5 kilometers while making 1,500-km-long flight as scheduled at the speed amounting to twelve times of the speed of sound and accurately landed on the waters of simulated target in the open sea.” They further quoted Kim: “The performance of our latest intermediate-range hypersonic missile system cannot be ignored worldwide, and the system can deal a serious military strike to a rival while effectively breaking any dense defensive barrier.”
