North Korea Says New Missile Has Hard-to-Stop Hypersonic Glider

(Bloomberg) -- North Korea said its latest rocket launch was a successful test of a “hypersonic missile,” suggesting the regime had come closer to putting nuclear warheads in high-speed gliders that can evade U.S. missile defenses. 

The new missile launched by North Korea added a weapon of “great strategic significance” to the country’s arsenal, the official Korean Central News Agency said Wednesday regarding the test a day earlier. State media also released a photo of a rocket that weapon experts said appeared to be a modified version of an intercontinental ballistic missile first launched in 2017, with what looked to be a winged glider perched on top. 

The ballistic missile flew a relatively short distance of 200 kilometers (125 miles) Tuesday morning, according to the South Korean military, making it difficult for weapons experts to verify the hypersonic claims. References by Pyongyang to a weapon’s “strategic” value usually indicate it’s intended to be armed with a nuclear warhead. 

While ballistic missiles are typically “hypersonic” -- traveling in excess of five times the speed of sound -- North Korea is referring to the use of high-speed gliders to carry warheads past missile defenses. Leader Kim Jong Un earlier this year cited such technology as a goal while outlining a broad expansion of nuclear forces that could both threaten the U.S. mainland and American allies Japan and South Korea. 

South Korea’s military said it believed the hypersonic weapon was still in an “early stage” of development and would take a considerable amount of time before any practical deployment. “South Korea and U.S. assets are capable of detecting and intercepting the missile,” the country’s Joint Chiefs of Staff added in a message sent Wednesday to reporters.  

The latest missile was fired Tuesday from the northern province of Jagang around 6:40 a.m. Tuesday and landed in waters to the east, South Korea’s military said. The missile’s trajectory -- rising about 30 kilometers into the atmosphere -- took it on a different flight course than missiles North Korea has tested over the past two years.

“National defense scientists confirmed the navigational control and stability of the missile in the active section and also its technical specifications including the guiding maneuverability and the gliding flight characteristics of the detached hypersonic gliding warhead,” KCNA said Wednesday. The test was observed by Pak Jong Chon, a Politburo member of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea. 

The latest test-fire came just days after Kim Yo Jong, the North Korean leader’s sister, reached out to South Korea for the second time in as many days. She said that Pyongyang would consider taking part in another summit and declaring an end to the 1950-53 Korean War -- if Seoul adopted a less hostile policy. 

On Tuesday, the U.S. said it reached out to North Korea and is ready to talk about any concerns they have, Yonhap News Agency reported, citing Kin Moy, principal deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs. 

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