North Korea claims to have successfully tested a missile system it previously labeled as hypersonic.
“The Missile Administration of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea successfully tested a new-type weapon, which is of great significance in the rapid technological development of weapon systems,” North Korean state media reported on Tuesday, noting the test occurred on Sunday.
While the state media report did not identify the weapon as hypersonic, photos published by KCNA appeared to show the Hwasong-11Ma, which North Korea has previously described as a hypersonic missile.
According to KCNA, Supreme Leader Kim Un observed the test, remarking, “To acquire such a technology is of weighty significance in the state’s readiness for war and the future development of the armed forces.” He added, “The enemy will know better what such progress means without any explanation in the aspect of military technology,” and “such reality would give the enemy an incurable headache and a very cruel and unavoidable blow.”
South Korea and Japan both reported that North Korea fired two missiles on Sunday. The test appears to have raised alarms in the US and among its allies in the region. Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi warned reporters about the increasingly severe security situation in the region.
“Last year, there were four instances and at least five missiles, so the number of instances has doubled, and the number of missiles has increased to at least three times as many,” Koizumi said, describing the regional security situation as “growing increasingly severe.”
The test also prompted the US, Japan, and South Korea to hold an emergency call. Tensions have flared in the region following two rounds of US-led war games and North Korea’s concerns that Washington will assist Seoul and Tokyo in developing nuclear attack submarines.
Over the past two months, the US has led two major rounds of war games in the region. In August, the US and South Korea held the bilateral Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises. Trump ordered the drills cut roughly in half, arguing they sent an unnecessarily hostile message to North Korea. However, the trilateral US-South Korea-Japan Freedom Edge exercises went forward as planned earlier this month.
Trump scaled back the war games as he offered to meet with Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un and predicted the two would meet later this year. However, Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, rebuked the overture, saying that merely scaling back the war games did not change the hostile US policy towards North Korea.
Adding to the tensions in the region are moves by South Korea and Japan toward acquiring nuclear-powered submarines. Washington has approved Seoul’s plan to build nuclear-powered attack submarines, while the possibility of Japan acquiring similar vessels has also drawn support from a US Navy official.
In a commentary published by KCNA, international affairs analyst Choe Ju Hyon accused the US of instigating South Korea and Japan to acquire nuclear submarines. “The reality goes to prove that Washington’s plan for ‘AUKUS 2.0,’ which allows the transfer of nuclear technology for munitions to non-nuclear allies, has entered the phase of full-scale expansion,” he wrote.
AUKUS is a trilateral pact between the US, the UK, and Australia. Under the deal, the US and UK agreed to help Australia build a fleet of nuclear submarines. China has also criticized the transfer of nuclear-propulsion technology under AUKUS. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said AUKUS “undermine[s] strategic stability and provoke[s] an arms race in the region.”
In his article, Choe argued that North Korea must increase its nuclear deterrent in response to South Korea and Japan acquiring nuclear submarines. North Korea must “bolster up its nuclear war deterrent means both in quality and quantity without the slightest stagnation and stalemate.”
