Hyonhee Shin, Josh Smith

SEOUL (Reuters), – North Korean media reports that they have successfully tested a hypersonic missile. State media also reported that Kim Jong Un attended the launch, his first in over a year.

The suspected launch was detected by South Korea’s and Japan’s authorities on Tuesday. Tokyo authorities condemned the incident and the U.N secretary-general expressed concern.

This was Kim’s second test within a span of less than one week. It was a sign that Kim has made a New Year’s resolution to provide military support with the latest technology in a period when negotiations with South Korea have been stalled.

The test-fire “was aimed at verifying the technical specifications for the hypersonic weapon system”, state news agency KCNA stated.

The report stated that a hypersonic glider vehicle flew 600 km in “glide jump flight”, and then made a “sea in water” of 240 km, 1,000 kilometers away after being released from its rocket booster.

“The super maneuverability of hypersonic glide vehicles was confirmed more clearly by final fire tests,” KCNA reported.

Kim urged the military scientists to continue to accelerate efforts to build the country’s military strength in quantity and quality, as well as to modernize and improve the army, KCNA stated.

Kim took part in the test for the first and only time since January 2020.

Ankit Panda (a senior fellow with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in America) posted this tweet: “His presence there would suggest particular attention to this programme.”