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North Korea says it has fired a new medium-range missile with a hypersonic warhead that will “hit any enemy in the Pacific region”.
Monday’s launch – Pyongyang’s first in two months – came as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Seoul for talks with other senior South Korean leaders.
Hypersonic weapons are extremely difficult to track and shoot, as they can travel at more than five times the speed of sound.
North Korea says its missile flew 12 times the speed of sound, about 1,500km.
South Korea’s military said earlier that the missile flew 1,100km before crashing into the sea, adding that it “strongly opposes” this “deliberate act”.
North Korea has previously tested hypersonic missiles. Pictures published by KCNA showed that Monday’s missile was similar to the one launched in April last year.
But Pyongyang says its new hypersonic missile has a “flight control and guidance system” and a new engine made of carbon fiber.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said Monday’s launch “showed our opponents what we are doing and that we are ready to use any means to protect our interests,” state news agency KCNA reported Tuesday.
Ankit Panda, a nuclear weapons expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said the launch of the new weapon was “surprising”.
“We know that North Korea has been working on an integrated missile system for several years now.
“The benefit of these tools is to improve performance and reliability for the money they pay for… Better tools can increase the chances of retaining their customers,” he told the BBC.
Although hypersonic weapons have been around for many years, in recent years new missiles have been developed that are much faster, can re-enter space much faster and perform evasive maneuvers, according to the Center for Arms Control and Non-proliferation.
Hypersonic missiles can be detected by airborne sensors. Various reports indicate that there is technology available that can intercept hypersonic missiles even if their methods are unknown. These are meant to be sent on the last leg of their flight, where they are slowly flying after a long journey through space.
While in Seoul on Monday, Blinken said the US believes Russia is planning to share space and satellite technology with North Korea.
He added that Moscow “could be on the verge of reversing” its decades-old commitment to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula by recognizing Pyongyang as a nuclear power.
During his visit, the US Secretary of State met with South Korean President Choi Sang-mok, where he described the partnership between Washington and Seoul as “the cornerstone of peace and stability on the Korean peninsula”.
South Korea’s military says it has stepped up monitoring of North Korean missile launches and is “sharing information” on the deployment with the US and Japan.
The launch came amid political unrest in South Korea, which has rocked the country for weeks following the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol. a long-term war effort in December.
Yoon, who was stripped of his presidential powers after lawmakers voted to impeach him, is now under arrest. The Constitutional Court is also considering whether to remove him from office.
Pyongyang has previously derided Yoon’s martial law declaration as “act of madness” and, without a hint of irony, accused Yoon of “carrying guns and brutal fascist guns to his own people”.
North Korea is known as one of the most repressive countries in the world. Their leader Kim Jong Un and his family have ruled the hermit country for decades as a brutal dynasty, cultivating and strengthening the people’s culture.
The last time Pyongyang launched a missile was in November, a day before the US presidential election, when it launched at least seven short-range missiles from the east coast.
Earlier in the week, the US dropped a long-range bomb during three-way military exercises with South Korea and Japan in a show of force, which drew criticism from Kim’s sister Kim Yo Jong.
