Seoul, Korea-

North Korea said on Wednesday it had tested another new hypersonic medium-range missile using solid propellant as it continues to expand its nuclear and missile programs amid deepening tensions with neighbors and the United States.

The news, reported by North Korean state media, came a day after the South Korean and Japanese militaries spotted North Korea firing missiles into the East China Sea from inland areas around the capital.

North Korea’s state media said the test was carried out under the supervision of leader Kim Jong Un, who described the missile, called the Hwasong-16B, as a key part of his nuclear war deterrent, which he vowed to further strengthen. Deterrence against his “enemies”. Refer to the United States, South Korea and Japan.

Kim Jong-un said that North Korea has now developed a solid fuel system with nuclear capabilities that is suitable for “all tactical, operational and strategic missiles with different ranges,” the Korean Central News Agency said.

In recent years, North Korea has been working to develop more weapons with built-in solid propellants. These weapons are easier to move and conceal and fire faster than liquid-propellant missiles, which need to be fueled before launch and cannot remain fueled for long periods of time.

Since 2021, North Korea has been testing hypersonic weapons that exceed five times the speed of sound. If perfected, such a system could pose a challenge to regional missile defense systems due to its speed and maneuverability.

However, it is unclear whether North Korea’s hypersonic vehicles consistently maintained expected speeds above Mach 5 during tests in 2021 and 2022. In Tuesday’s test, the missile’s hypersonic gliding warhead reached a peak altitude of 101 kilometers after separating from the launch rocket (KCNA said the aircraft flew about 1,000 kilometers (62 miles) while conducting various flight maneuvers , then landed in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.

Although the Japanese Defense Ministry announced a similar maximum altitude to North Korea’s report, the South Korean and Japanese militaries assessed the missile flew about 600 miles (372 miles).

North Korea also tested a so-called hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile in January, several years after it flight-tested a liquid-fueled intermediate-range ballistic missile. Experts say the weapon, if perfected, could potentially reach remote U.S. targets in the Pacific, including the military hub of Guam.

Jang Young-geun, a missile expert at South Korea’s Institute for National Strategic Studies, said that while North Korea initially tested the hypersonic warhead using a liquid fuel system, the ability to load it onto a solid-fuel rocket would allow for faster launch and operation. .

“While announcing that its missiles have been fully nuclearized, North Korea also emphasized its commitment to equip its hypersonic missiles with nuclear weapons,” Zhang said. “North Korea’s goal in developing hypersonic medium-range ballistic missiles is Guam, where a U.S. military base is located, and even It’s Alaska.”

Tensions have increased in the region since 2022, with Kim Jong Un using Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a distraction to accelerate the testing of missiles and other weapons. The United States and South Korea have responded by expanding joint training and trilateral exercises involving Japan and strengthening deterrence strategies around U.S. strategic assets.

Oversighting Tuesday’s test, Kim Jong Un called on North Korea to further expand its nuclear and missile programs to obtain “overwhelming power capable of containing and controlling” its enemies, which have “recently demonstrated their strength in strengthening military alliances and waging various wars.” “Gotta be more fanatical” drill. “

Hours after the launch, the Seoul Defense Ministry announced that South Korea, the United States and Japan conducted joint air exercises in the waters near Jeju Island, in which at least one American B-52 nuclear bomber participated.

The United States has been increasing the deployment of strategic assets to the region in recent months, including aircraft carriers and missile submarines, in a show of force against North Korea.