According to the state-run newspaper, the new hypersonic missile system is one of “five most important” new weapons systems laid out in the five-year military development plan, introduced at the Jan. 2021 party congress.

At the congress, Kim Jong Un said that defense scientists had “finished research into developing … hypersonic gliding flight warheads for new-type ballistic rockets,” but Tuesday’s test was the first for the new system.

The South Korean military first identified the test on Tuesday morning, reporting that a missile was launched around 6:40 a.m., and Yonhap News Agency, citing an anonymous source, later reported that the range was likely under 200 kilometers (about 124 miles) with an altitude of around 30 kilometers (about 18.6 miles).

The Rodong Sinmun on Wednesday said the missile was launched from the northcentral part of the country, in the Toyang area of Ryongrim county, Jagang province.

The location of the Sep. 28 hypersonic missile test, according to state media (Coordinates: 40.619867°, 126.488727°). Read about the munitions industry factories in the area here and here, identified in the map above nearby the latest test site and the July 28, 2017 Hwasong-14 ICBM launch site. | Image: Google Earth, edited by NK News

North Korean state media said the new system “has been regarded as a top priority work under the special care of the Party’s Central Committee” and is “of great strategic significance in markedly boosting the independent power of ultra-modern defence science and technology of the country.”

The report did not provide additional information about the flight trajectory, but said the test launch “confirmed the navigational control and stability of the missile in the active section and also its technical specifications including the guiding maneuverability and the gliding flight characteristics of the detached hypersonic gliding warhead.”

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said on Wednesday afternoon that they believe the missile is “in the initial stage of development,” judging from data such as the detected speed of the missile. The data has not been released publicly.

It will take North Korea “a significant amount of time” to actually deploy the missile, said JCS, which also assessed that the United States and South Korea would be capable of detecting and intercepting the missile with their current military assets.

On Tuesday, the U.S. State Department reiterated that Washington condemns North Korea’s missile launch, calling the test a violation of multiple U.N. Security Council regulations.

A NEW HWASONG?

Ankit Panda, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and NK Pro analytic contributor, told NK News that according to the one image released so far, the Hwasong-8 “looks like a Hwasong-12 booster with a new maneuverable reentry vehicle payload,” referring to an intermediate-range ballistic missile revealed years ago. He clarified, however, that more imagery will be required to make a more definitive assessment.

“Unlike a traditional reentry vehicle, this can reenter and ‘glide,’” Panda said about the “hypersonic” system. “Presumably North Korea believes this gives them a better shot at beating missile defenses, but it’s not true that these payloads are always going to be a better bet” to do so.

More images or video of the test may be released on state TV on Wednesday afternoon | Image: Rodong Sinmun, Sep. 29, 2021, brightness edited by NK News

Tuesday’s Hwasong-8 test was North Korea’s third missile test of September, following the reveal of a new “long-range cruise missile” and train-launched ballistic missile system in recent weeks.

Other new military systems mentioned by Kim Jong Un at the party congress that have not yet been publicly displayed or tested include a military reconnaissance satellite, reconnaissance drones, a “super-large” hydrogen bomb, longer-range intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and solid-fuel ICBMs, among other weapons.

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