North Korea announced Wednesday that its leader Kim Jong-un personally oversaw a successful test-fire of a hypersonic missile, the second such test by Pyongyang in less than a week.
The official “North Korean Central News Agency” said that the missile launched on Tuesday carried “a hypersonic gliding warhead that hit a target in the sea 1,000 km away.”
“During the final firing test, the superior maneuverability of the hypersonic combat unit was more closely checked,” she added.
The South Korean military said the launch had reached hypersonic speeds and showed clear signs of “progress” compared to the test conducted by Pyongyang last week.
Hypersonic missiles fly at Mach 5 (five times the speed of sound) or more and can maneuver mid-flight, making them more difficult to track and intercept.
Pictures published on its website by the Rodong Sinmun newspaper, the mouthpiece of the ruling Workers’ Party, showed the missile taking off from the ground as leader Kim supervised the launch, surrounded by men in military uniforms.
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