Seoul: North Korea’s Kim Jong Un oversaw the launch of medium- and long-range solid-fuel hypersonic missiles, with state media praising the new weapon’s “significant military strategic value” on Wednesday.
A video released by state media showed Kim and a group of uniformed soldiers watching a trail of smoke and flames before the missile exploded.
With the successful test, Kim said the North had created a “powerful strategic attack weapon” and achieved its goal of acquiring missiles “based on solid fuel, guided warheads, and nuclear weapons.”
Tuesday morning’s test was a “new-type solid-fuel ballistic missile” loaded with a hypersonic cruise warhead, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.
According to South Korea’s military, the missile traveled about 600 kilometers (372 miles) before escaping into the waters between South Korea and Japan.
KNCA said it was conducting tests to “check the glide flight orbit characteristics and test the range control capability of the hypersonic glide vehicle” while limiting the range “for safety reasons”.
“The test-fire does not affect the safety of neighboring countries,” he said.
