North Korea announced today that it had successfully test-fired a new type of ballistic missile equipped with a warhead that develops supersonic speed and is able to maneuver, marking a new technological advance in the field of armaments.

The launch, Pyongyang’s first of a solid-fueled intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile (IRBM), was detected by the South Korean military after noon on Sunday.

This rocket, with a solid fuel engine, carried “ultrasonic head” able to “maneuvers”the official North Korean news agency KCNA reported.

Its test was intended to “verify the capabilities” of hovering and maneuvering, as well as “the reliability of the newly developed high-thrust, multi-stage solid fuel engine,” KCNA explained.

The agency also said that this launch, the first announced by Pyongyang since the beginning of the year, did not affect the security of any “neighboring country” and “had nothing to do with the situation in the region.”

The test was recorded against the backdrop of concerns about the hardening of North Korea’s positions.

Last week, the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un he described South Korea as his country’s “main enemy”, declaring that he would not hesitate to “annihilate” it.

South Korea’s defense ministry condemned the launch and warned there would be “overwhelming retaliation” in the event of a “direct provocation” by Pyongyang.

“Challenge”

“This behavior of North Korea is a clear provocation, which violates resolutions of the UN Security Council, which prohibit it from using ballistic missile technology,” therefore, “we issue a stern warning and demand that North Korea stop immediately,” he added.

Solid-fueled missiles can generally be hidden more easily and launched faster, while hypersonic missiles can maneuver in flight to strike more precisely.

Both of these technologies have long been on the list of weapons that Mr. Kim has demanded be developed.

In mid-December, the North Korean leader oversaw the launch of the Hwasong-18, a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

In general, Pyongyang is trying to acquire weapons with higher accuracy and greater ability to penetrate missile defenses, analysts said.

Yesterday’s launch follows North Korea’s live-fire artillery drills earlier this month off its west coast near South Korean islands, whose populations have been told to rush to shelters.

The relationship between North and South Korea is at its worst level in decades. In late December, Mr Kim ordered his military’s preparations to be stepped up in the event of a “war” that could “break out at any time”. He denounced the situation of “permanent and uncontrollable crisis” on the peninsula, laying the blame for it on Seoul and Washington, after their common high schools.

Pyongyang managed to put a spy satellite into orbit late last year after receiving — according to Seoul — technological help from Moscow in exchange for deliveries of munitions for use in Ukraine.

Russia and North Korea, allies for decades, further strained ties after the North Korean leader’s trip to the Russian Far East in September 2023, where he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

North Korea’s foreign ministry is visiting Russia this week for talks, KCNA reported.

Last year, North Korea enshrined the nuclear power status it has acquired into its constitution and has repeatedly tested ICBMs in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions.

The Security Council has adopted several resolutions requiring Pyongyang to end its programs to develop nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles after North Korea’s first nuclear test in 2006.