A hypersonic missile, which was called the Hwsong-8. This kind of advanced weaponry, one of the weapons of the future, is what North Korea claims it first tested successfully on Tuesday in a launch from a location in the Toyang-ri Mountains, in the province of Jagang (center-North of the country). The missile, according to the North Korean news agency KCNA, “has demonstrated that all of its technical specifications meet the requirements of its design,” including “the glide characteristics of the hypersonic warhead.” The test showed the projectile to be maneuverable, “confirmed its navigation control and the stability of the missile in its active section.”

Barely an hour after the news of the shooting was announced, the North Korean ambassador defended before the United Nations General Assembly his country’s right to test its defense technology. “No one can deny the right of self-defense of the People’s Republic of Korea to develop, test, manufacture and own weapon systems equivalent to those it owns or develops itself,” said Ambassador Kim Song At New York. “We only build our national defense to reliably safeguard security and peace in the country,” he added.

The new projectile strengthens North Korea’s defense capability, according to KCNA, which specifies that the Hwasong-8 is “one of the five most important new weapon systems” included in the new five-year plan approved last January , and that he will run the country’s economy until 2025.

At the Workers’ Party Congress that approved the five-year plan in January, and after declaring the country’s nuclear and ballistic weapons program complete four years ago, North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un presented a list weapons to be developed immediately. future. Among the equipment needed were hypersonic missiles, as well as ICBMs, spy satellites, nuclear submarines and reconnaissance drones. At the time, Kim had assured that his military engineers “had completed the research phase for the development of hypersonic warheads for new types of ballistic rockets.”

The KCNA report said the new missile has a “blister” fuel system, which the North Korean armed forces were testing for the first time. This system allows liquid fuel to be loaded into rockets during their manufacture. This allows soldiers to avoid having to load fuel into the missile in the moments before firing, when they are possibly in combat conditions.

Unlike other outings in the past, Kim Jong Un was not present at this test. It was chaired by Park Jong Chong, the North Korean chief of staff, who stressed “the military importance that all missile fuel systems can become blisters.” This launch is the last episode in a series of crossed messages between the two Koreas, which on the one hand boost his military career and on the other hand open the door to him and evoke a possible dialogue.

South Korea had identified the launch early on Tuesday. Then, the South Korean general staff had indicated that the North had fired a missile around 6:40 a.m. (11:40 p.m. Monday, Spanish Peninsula time). According to the South Korean news agency Yonhap, the projectile traveled a distance of about 200 kilometers and reached an altitude of about 30 kilometers.

In a statement subsequent to the North Korean announcement, the South General Staff wished to send a message of relative calm. The North Korean “hypersonic” missile appears to be still in the early stages of development and will continue to develop “even for a long time.” South Korean and US forces, say the southern commands, have teams that can detect it.

The two Koreas are in a bilateral arms race, and both have tested various equipment over the past month that brings new capabilities to their respective armies. The South equipped itself with submarines capable of launching missiles and completed a test of a ballistic projectile on the 15th, the same day the North in turn fired two ballistic missiles towards the Sea of ​​Japan. A week later, Kim Yo Jong, sister of Kim Jong Un and right-hand man of the leader, pointed out the possibility of restoring dialogue between the two countries and re-establishing the liaison office in the border town of Kaesong that the North destroyed. last year during a rise in tensions between the two nations.

The development of hypersonic missiles is one area where the United States, Russia and China are vying for leadership. This weaponry, capable of reaching speeds five times greater than those of sound, combines the precision of cruise missiles – slower – and the speed of ballistic missiles – imprecise. They are very maneuverable, able to operate at different heights, and the unpredictability of their trajectory makes them very difficult for enemy missile shields to detect.

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