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North Korea Opens 2025 Missile Test Campaign With Hypersonic Vehicle Flight
North Korean state media KCNA released photos showing the wedge-shape hypersonic glide vehicle on what is likely a Hwasong-16Na ballistic missile.
SINGAPORE—North Korea has conducted its first missile test in 2025, claiming it was an intermediate-range ballistic missile topped by a hypersonic glide vehicle.
North Korean state media outlet KCNA said the missile was fired near Pyongyang on Jan. 6 and reached a top speed of Mach 12, before falling into the Sea of Japan 1,500 km (932 mi.) away.
It said the missile reached an apogee of 99.8 km and a second apogee of 42.5 km. KCNA added that the weapon features a new carbon fiber compound and enhanced flight and guidance control system. The flight trajectory is lower than the 101.1 km apogee and 72.3 km second apogee reported for an April 2024 hypersonic test.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff tracked the missile flying 1,100 km for less than 10 min. The Japanese Defense Ministry said it measured a similar flying range and apogee and that the missile headed northeast after launch and came down outside its exclusive economic zone.
Neither KCNA, Seoul nor Tokyo mentioned whether the missile performed a cross-range maneuver.
KCNA released photos showing the wedge-shape hypersonic glide vehicle on what is likely a Hwasong-16Na ballistic missile.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the new missile capability puts “the country's nuclear war deterrent on an advanced basis” and that the weapon system is “the linchpin of strategic deterrence.” The test coincides with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit to Seoul and comes two weeks before the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump.
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