North Korea’s Kim oversees hypersonic missile launch, calls for bolstering war deterrent

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un oversaw an intermediate-range strategic missile launch and called for stronger offensive capabilities, describing the drill as a deterrent. The launch heightened tensions with South Korea and Japan amid disputes over a recent DMZ landmine blast

Seoul: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has overseen the launch of an intermediate-range strategic missile and called for continued efforts to bolster the “fatality” of the country’s offensive weapons, state media reported on Sunday. North Korea conducted a firing drill of the missile toward the East Sea at dawn on Saturday as part of efforts to train missile troops operating the “hypersonic strategic weapon system,” reports Yonhap, quoting the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Kim said it is very important to demonstrate the counterattack means of the North’s military in a “constant mobilisation posture,” according to the report. “We must continue our responsible efforts nonstop to constantly and repeatedly make the enemy recognise the reliability and fatality of our strategic offensive means,” the North’s leader was quoted as saying by the KCNA.

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“This is a form of exercising deterrent,” he said, noting that such a missile launch is aimed at “more rapidly developing the country’s nuclear war deterrent.”

Photos published by state media showed Kim overseeing the launch with his daughter, Ju-ae, and his wife, Ri Sol-ju. The KCNA said the missile, launched toward the northeast, hit a target 1,000 kilometres away from the East Sea.

The South Korean military earlier said it detected North Korea firing a ballistic missile toward the East Sea early Saturday morning from the Wonsan area, and it flew over 700km.

Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of the North’s leader, disclosed the missile firing Saturday in an unusually swift move. She claimed military authorities of South Korea and Japan failed to track the trajectory of the missile due to the limitations of their tracking capabilities.

Experts raised the possibility of North Korea firing the Hwasong-16 Na hypersonic medium-range ballistic missile, citing North Korea’s media report that the launched missile was capable of changing its flight orbit at a low altitude. The missile launch came amid heightened tensions over last month’s land mine blast inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that injured three South Korean soldiers.

The South Korean military blamed North Korea for the Sept. 21 mine blast and called it a “blatant” violation of the armistice agreement that ended the 1950-53 Korean War.

Seoul demanded an apology and responsible measures from Pyongyang. North Korea has denied responsibility for the incident, accusing Seoul of fabricating the findings and warning of “merciless” retaliation if the South takes any corresponding actions.