NORTH Korea has successfully tested a hypersonic missile, state media reported today, in the first such test by the nuclear-armed nation this year.

The missile was test-fired yesterday and carried a “hypersonic gliding warhead” that “precisely hit a target 700km away”, the official Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

This was the second reported North Korean test of a hypersonic gliding missile, a sophisticated weapon that has marked the latest technological advance in its arsenal.

Yesterday’s test “reconfirmed the flight control and stability of the missile in the active-flight stage and assessed the performance of the new lateral movement technique applied to the detached hypersonic gliding warhead”, KCNA said.

The launch also verified the “fuel ampoule system under winter weather conditions”, it added.

Seoul and Tokyo detected the launch of a suspected ballistic missile from North Korea yesterday, adding that it fell in the sea east of the Korean peninsula.

The United States condemned the launch, and urged Pyongyang to sit down for talks. – AFP, January 6, 2022.