DPRK top leader attends latest ‘hypersonic’ missile test

This photo provided by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's government shows what it says a test launch of a hypersonic missile on Jan 11, 2022 in DPRK. (KOREAN CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY / KOREA NEWS SERVICE VIA AP)

PYONGYANG – The Democratic People's Republic of Korea on Tuesday successfully conducted a "hypersonic gliding warhead" test, which was supervised by top leader Kim Jong-un and other top officials, the Korean Central News Agency reported on Wednesday.

It was the first time since March 2020 that Kim Jong-un had officially attended a missile test

The report said the missile test was conducted by the Academy of Defence Science for the final verification of the hypersonic weapon system's technical specifications.

"The test-fire was aimed at the final verification of overall technical specifications of the developed hypersonic weapon system," it added.

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After its release from the rocket booster, a hypersonic glide vehicle made a 600-km "glide jump flight" and then 240 km of "corkscrew maneuvering" before hitting a target in waters 1,000 km away, the news agency said.

Kim urged military scientists to "further accelerate the efforts to steadily build up the country's strategic military muscle both in quality and quantity and further modernize the army.”

It was the first time since March 2020 that Kim had officially attended a missile test. The ruling party newspaper Rodong Sinmun published photos of Kim attending the launch on its front page.