{"id":19536,"date":"2024-04-03T04:42:23","date_gmt":"2024-04-03T04:42:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/?p=19536"},"modified":"2024-04-03T05:03:55","modified_gmt":"2024-04-03T05:03:55","slug":"north-koreas-kim-oversaw-test-of-new-hypersonic-weapon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/2024\/04\/north-koreas-kim-oversaw-test-of-new-hypersonic-weapon\/","title":{"rendered":"North Korea&#8217;s Kim oversaw test of new hypersonic weapon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>MONITORING (SW) &#8211; North Korea has said it tested a new solid-fueled hypersonic intermediate-range missile (IRBM) as it continues to expand its weapons programme.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Wednesday\u2019s report in the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) came a day after South Korea and Japan detected the launch of a missile from North Korea towards the east.<\/p>\n<p>North Korea has fired a suspected intermediate-range ballistic missile into the sea off its east coast. South Korea\u2019s Joint Chiefs of Staff said that it detected the launch from the area of the North Korean capital Pyongyang on Tuesday at 6.53 a.m..<\/p>\n<p>KCNA shared photos of leader Kim Jong Un on site near the weapon, the Hwasong-16B, as well as with his military commanders, less than two weeks after he supervised a solid-fuel engine test for an IRBM.<\/p>\n<p>Kim lauded the weapon as a demonstration of the \u201cabsolute superiority\u201d of North Korea\u2019s defense technology. Pyongyang had developed nuclear-capable, solid-fuel systems for \u201call the tactical, operational and strategic missiles with various ranges\u201d, he added, according to KCNA.<\/p>\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_19543\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-19543\" style=\"width: 2560px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-19543 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/korea-1-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/korea-1-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/korea-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/korea-1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/korea-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/korea-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/korea-1-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-19543\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A missile is launched, as the state media reports North Korea test-fired a new mid- to long-range solid-fuel hypersonic missile, at an unknown location in North Korea, April 2, 2024, in this picture released on April 3, 2024, by the Korean Central News Agency. [KCNA via REUTERS]<\/figcaption><\/figure>The North Korean leader promised to further develop the country\u2019s arsenal to counter his \u201cenemies\u201d, a reference to Japan, South Korea and the United States.<\/p>\n<p>KCNA said the Hwasong-16B flew for about 1,000km (621 miles), reaching a peak altitude of 101km (62 miles). Seoul\u2019s military said it was airborne for about 600km (370 miles) before splashing down in the sea between South Korea and Japan.<\/p>\n<p>North Korea has focused on developing more sophisticated solid-fuel weapons because they are easier to conceal and move, and can be launched more quickly. Liquid-propelled weapons need to be fueled before launch and cannot stay fueled for long periods of time, said Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n<p>Hypersonic weapons, meanwhile, are designed to exceed five times the speed of sound and can also be maneuvered in flight.<\/p>\n<p>North Korea previously said it tested a hypersonic IRBM in January.<\/p>\n<p>The Tuesday launch \u201cappears to be part of Pyongyang\u2019s missile development blueprint, including hypersonic weapons\u201d, said Han Kwon-hee of the Korea Association of Defence Industry Studies.<\/p>\n<h6><em><strong>ENDS<\/strong><\/em><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MONITORING (SW) &#8211; North Korea has said it tested a new solid-fueled hypersonic intermediate-range missile (IRBM) as it continues to expand its weapons programme.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":19538,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[990,1,984,194,982],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest","category-0_swnen","category-news","category-world","category-international"],"views":35,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19536"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19536\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19547,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19536\/revisions\/19547"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}