Important Takeaways:

• North Korea’s Latest Hypersonic Missile System Is One Sinister-Looking Weapon
• North Korea just tested a solid-fuel intermediate-range ballistic missile with a wedge-shaped hypersonic boost-glide vehicle on top.
• The test launch was conducted from a site outside of North Korea’s capital Pyongyang that has been used in the past. The country’s leader Kim Jong Un was, as is customary, in attendance, as were other senior officials.
• The official North Korean statement says that the missile “reached its first peak at the height of 101.1 kilometers [just over 62.8 miles] and the second [at] 72.3 kilometers [close to 45 miles] while making [a] 1,000-km-long flight [just over 621 miles] as scheduled to accurately hit the waters of the East Sea of Korea [also known as the Sea of Japan].”
• For their part, South Korean authorities said yesterday that they had assessed the total distance covered by the missile to be around 372 miles (600 kilometers). They also said it was an intermediate-range ballistic missile, a category of ballistic missiles with maximum ranges between approximately 1,864 and 3,418 miles (3,000 and 5,500 kilometers), but added that “the North Koreans were likely experimenting with new warhead technologies,” according to the AP.
• Though The War Zone cannot independently verify North Korea’s claims, the description of the Hwasongpho-16B test having two peak altitudes is in line with how weapons like this are designed to function.
• Whether there is any relationship to the DF-17 specifically, China could be one source of relevant technology and experience that could have aided in the development of the Hwasongpho-16B. North Korea and China have long been allies and Beijing has been accused in the past of helping Pyongyang evade international sanctions.
• Last year, South Korea accused Russia of providing assistance to North Korea to support its spy satellite launch program. Relations between the Kremlin and Pyongyang have grown significantly tighter since Russia launched its all-out invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Russia has since acquired large amounts of munitions, including short-range ballistic missiles, from North Korea to sustain its war effort and has cemented those deals in part through exchanges in kind. The U.S. government has said this includes support for North Korea’s domestic ballistic missile programs

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