N. Korea’s claim of hypersonic missile launch likely ‚deception‘: S. Korean military

This picture, carried by North Korea’s official Korean Central Information Company on Jan. 7, reveals the test-firing of a brand new intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile the day gone by. Yonhap

North Korea’s declare of what it referred to as a profitable launch of a brand new intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) tipped with a hypersonic warhead is presumed to be „deception,“ South Korea’s army mentioned Tuesday.

The evaluation got here hours after North Korea mentioned it efficiently test-fired the missile the day gone by, saying it flew some 1,500 kilometers at 12 occasions the pace of sound.

kilometers ea’s Joint Chiefs of Employees (JCS) earlier mentioned the IRBM launched from the Pyongyang space flew about 1,100 kilometers earlier than falling into the East Sea.

„It’s assessed that North Korea’s declare of the flight distance and the second peak altitude is extremely possible deception,“ JCS spokesperson Col. Lee Sung-jun informed a daily briefing.

„The flight vary analyzed by South Korea, the USA and Japan is round 1,100 kilometers and (the missile) didn’t attain a second peak,“ Lee mentioned, dismissing the North’s declare that the missile reached the second peak at 42.5 kilometers.

When requested about whether or not the North may have acquired technological help from Russia in creating the brand new missile, the JCS official didn’t rule out such chance.

North Korea claimed Tuesday that it has completed technological developments, corresponding to utilizing a „new compound of carbon fiber“ for the engine physique, elevating suspicions of technological support from Russia amid their rising army alignment.

The most recent launch got here round 9 months after the North launched an IRBM tipped with a hypersonic warhead in April. At the moment, Pyongyang claimed the „highly effective, strategic offensive weapon“ made a 1,000-kilometers -long flight as deliberate.

The JCS then mentioned the missile flew 600 kilometers, calling the North’s claims partially „exaggerated,“ though it mentioned North Korea seems to have made some technological progress in its hypersonic weapons program.

North Korea first test-fired a missile tipped with a hypersonic glide car in September 2021, though that launch was seen as a failure.

The North has been looking for to develop refined weapons, corresponding to hypersonic missiles, nuclear-powered submarines, spy satellites and solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missiles, after chief Kim Jong-un vowed to develop them in a key social gathering congress in 2021. (Yonhap)