North Korea Says It Test-Fired New 'Hypersonic Missile'

Hypersonic missiles travel at low altitudes and five times faster than the speed of sound.

North Korea's state media said that the country test-fired a hypersonic missile on Tuesday. 

(File Photo: IANS)

North Korea's state news media reported on Wednesday, 29 September, that the government, for testing purposes, fired a newly developed hypersonic missile off its east coast on Tuesday, Reuters reported.

The US special envoy for North Korea called the test "destabilising" and said it also posed a threat to the stability of the region.

But he maintained that this would not stop the US from using diplomacy to make the Korean Peninsula a nuclear free one.

Hypersonic weapons are supposed to be the next big thing in the world of weapons. The trajectories of their flights are at low altitudes and they travel so fast that they take away the adversary's reaction time, the report added.

Chang Young-keun of Korea Aerospace University, who is an expert in missile technology, commented that North Korea's hypersonic technology is "not comparable to those of the US, Russia or China and for now seems to aim for short-range that can target South Korea or Japan."

North Korea has stated that the US and South Korea should let go of their double standards and restart the diplomatic talks that have remained stalled since 2019.

South Korea had successfully tested a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) two weeks ago, and North Korea had fired two ballistic missiles on the same day towards the sea.

The former became the first country to conduct such a test without having acquired nuclear capability.

Both countries have been unable to re-enter talks with each other, as they continue to develop their weapons systems.

(With inputs from Reuters.)