North Korea says it tested hypersonic missile

SEOUL: North Korea has successfully tested a hypersonic missile, state media reported on Thursday, in the first major weapons test by the nuclear-armed nation this year.

This was the second reported test of what Pyongyang claimed were hypersonic gliding missiles, as it pursues the sophisticated technology despite international sanctions and condemnation.

Hypersonic missiles move far faster and are more agile than standard ones, making them much harder for missile defence systems -- on which the United States is spending billions -- to intercept.

The missile fired on Wednesday carried a "hypersonic gliding warhead" that "precisely hit a target 700-km away", the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported, without identifying the launcher.

The warhead also demonstrated a "new" capability, moving 120 km laterally after it detached from the launcher to strike the target, it added. "The successive successes in the test launches in the hypersonic missile sector have strategic significance," KCNA said.

Hypersonic missiles were listed among the "top priority" tasks for strategic weapons in North Korea’s current five-year plan, and it announced its first test -- of the Hwasong-8 -- in September last year. The Wednesday launch also tested the "fuel ampoule system under winter weather conditions", according to KCNA.