North Korea fired hypersonic missile in message to ‘rivals,’ Kim Jong Un says

(LONDON) — North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency on Tuesday claimed a successful test a new type of intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile, with leader Kim Jong Un touting the weapon as a major military achievement.

KCNA said the successful test took place on Jan. 6. The launch marked Pyongyang’s first missile test of 2025 and came with Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the region for what is expected to be his last foreign trip as America’s top diplomat.

Kim personally oversaw the test, KCNA said.

Kim said the missile’s hypersonic glide vehicle travelled more than 930 miles at 12 times the speed of sound. It reached two different peaks of 62 miles and 26.4 miles before hitting a simulated target at sea, the North Korean leader said.

The development of the weapon is “mainly aimed to steadily put the country’s nuclear war deterrent on an advanced basis by making the means of changing the war situation, the weapon system to which no one can respond, the linchpin of strategic deterrence,” Kim said, as quoted by KCNA.

“This is clearly a plan and effort for self-defence, not an offensive plan and action,” Kim added.

“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,” the leader added.

The launch “clearly showed” Pyongyang’s “rivals” that the country is “fully ready to use even any means to defend our legitimate interests,” Kim continued.

“The hypersonic missile system will reliably contain any rivals in the Pacific region that can affect the security of our state,” he said.

North Korea has embarked on an intense program of weapons tests in recent years, including intercontinental ballistic missiles, medium-range rockets and hypersonic weapons. The increase in tests came as relations with the U.S. and its regional allies deteriorated and Pyongyang pulled closer to Russia.

North Korea has been testing hypersonic weapons — which fly at more than five times the speed of sound, their speed and trajectory making them difficult to intercept — since 2021.

South Korea cast doubt on its neighbor’s purported test. Lee Sung Joon, the spokesperson for South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Seoul’s military believed Pyongyang was exaggerating its capabilities, the Associated Press reported.

Lee said the missile covered a shorter distance than Kim claimed and that there was no second peak.

The latest test came as Blinken visited South Korea and Japan — two key American regional allies.

Blinken on Monday condemned North Korea’s launch as “yet another violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions,” and again criticized Pyongyang for its materiel and personnel contributions to Russia’s ongoing war on Ukraine.

ABC News’ Will Gretsky contributed to this report.

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