South Korea says suspected North Korean hypersonic missile exploded in flight

SEOUL, South Korea – A suspected hypersonic missile flown by North Korea exploded during takeoff on Wednesday, South Korea’s military said, as North Korea arrived in the area of ​​a US aircraft carrier for trilateral military exercises with South Korea. Is opposing the deployment. Japan.

The missile, launched from the North’s capital at about 5:30 a.m. (4:30 p.m. Tuesday), was aimed at the North’s eastern waters before failure, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a comment.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile exploded as it took off from the North’s eastern coastal city of Wonsan. Missile fragments were scattered in water up to 155 miles from the launch site. Disagreeable damage is reported immediately.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff suspected that the weapon was a solid-fueled hypersonic missile and that the test was intended to improve its capability. The Joint Chiefs of Staff group said the launch initially produced more smoke than normal launches, probably due to engine failure.

The contents of the background briefing to South Korean newshounds have been shared with international media.

The US Indo-Pacific Command said it condemned the launch and said US commitment to the security of South Korea and Japan “remains steadfast.”

In a trilateral telephone call, senior diplomats from South Korea, the US and Japan condemned the North’s missile launches as a violation of UN Security Council resolutions and a warning to world complacency. According to South Korea’s Foreign Ministry, they will definitely safeguard three-way coordination.

Since 2021, North Korea has conducted a type of hypersonic missile test in an apparent bid to gain the ability to penetrate the missile defenses of its adversaries. However, international experts question whether North Korean hypersonic cars have proven their desired speed and maneuverability during test-flights.

In recent times, North Korea has also been pushing to build additional fixed-propellant guns. Such propellants make launches more difficult than liquid-propellant missiles, which must be refueled before take-off.

The launch also comes as the rival Koreas are seeking Cold War-style intelligence campaigns, such as balloons and loudspeaker announcements.

South Korea said North Korea released a large number of garbage-filled balloons along the border on Tuesday night in its sixth such campaign since last May. About 100 North Korean balloons reportedly fell on the South Korean border along with paper waste.

Incheon Global Airport, South Korea’s largest and the hardest-hit in a generation, suspended takeoffs and landings for three hours early Wednesday in the second such disruption since the North began ballooning activities on May 28. done. Flying government.

North Korea shouts that its balloon is giving a tit-for-tat response to South Korean activists distributing political leaflets through its balloons. South Korea spoke through its border loudspeakers on June 9, briefly resuming propaganda coverage for the first time in years. South Korea’s military said Monday it was able to restart its loudspeakers.

US Theodore Roosevelt arrived in South Korea on Saturday and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol boarded the aircraft carrier on Tuesday, the first sitting South Korean president to board a US aircraft carrier since 1994.

Yoon instructed American and South Korean troops at Provider that their countries’ alliance was the largest alliance in the region and would defeat any enemy. He said U.S. suppliers would give a waiver on Wednesday for the South Korea-U.S.-Japan exercise, dubbed “Freedom Edge.” The learning objective is to promote a mixed response of international locations in various areas of operations including air, sea and our online world.

North Korean Vice Defense Minister Kim Kang Il on Monday described the US aircraft carrier deployment as “reckless” and “dangerous”. North Korea in the past has called preliminary US-South Korean exercises invasion rehearsals and responded with missile tests.

Seoul officials said the subsequent South Korea-US-Japan training is aimed at enhancing the three countries’ response capabilities against North Korea’s escalating nuclear ultimatum, at a time when the North is stepping up its military partnership with Russia.

Just after the summit in Pyongyang, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an agreement that would require each country to provide support if attacked and vowed to step up alternative cooperation. Witnesses say the agreement represents the strongest relationship between the two countries since the end of the Cold War.

The US and its allies believe that North Korea is providing much-needed specialized assistance to Russia in exchange for military and financial support for its conflict in Ukraine.

North Korea’s reported missile launch is its first gun display since May 30, when Kim supervised the firing of multiple nuclear-capable rocket launchers to simulate a preemptive strike on South Korea.

Since 2022, North Korea has increasingly moved up the date of gun tests to increase its nuclear strike objectives in the face of growing warnings from the US military. Foreign experts say North Korea ultimately aims to extract better concessions from the United States by using its larger nuclear arsenal as international ties resume.