A day after it tested another missile, North Korea’s state media said its defence forces tested a hypersonic missile.
The state-run Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) said North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un oversaw the tests which took place on Tuesday morning.
The state channel said the missile carrying a “hypersonic gliding vehicle hit the set target in waters 1,000 km off.”
It is the second missile test by Kim’s regime in six days and the third hypersonic missile launch by the island nation.
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North Korea had tested a hypersonic missile in September last year and another last week amid tensions in the Korean peninsula.
After the tests, Kim was quoted as saying that the country will “further accelerate the efforts to steadily build up the country’s strategic military muscle both in quality and quantity and further modernise the army.”
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Kim had last attended a missile launch in March 2020 clearly signifying the importance of the current missile launch as North Korea said the missile reached hypersonic speed.
Hypersonic missiles travel at speed of Mach 5 and are hard to detect by radars as they fly in low altitudes.
The latest twin launches come even as the Biden administration expressed its willingness for talks with Kim who had last met former US President Donald Trump in 2019 after the summit collapsed.
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The US said the launch “violates multiple UN Security Council resolutions” although Kim vowed to boost the country’s defence capabilities.
(With inputs from Agencies)
