(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Hyo-jung = North Korea is showing off its variety of hypersonic ballistic missiles that can neutralize the ROK-US interception network with irregular flight trajectories.
Following the recent launch of an improved version of the anti-abuse short-range hypersonic missile 'Hwaseong-11ma', it is evaluated that the hypersonic 'mid-range strategic missile' with increased propulsion has the ability to threaten not only the US military base in Japan where US military reinforcements are deployed in case of emergency, but also the US territory of Guam.
According to North Korean state media reports and expert opinions on the 4th, the ballistic missile that North Korea launched the day before from the Wonsan area appears to have been equipped with a cone-shaped hypersonic warhead that was test-fired in 2022 on a medium-range projectile.
Labor Party Director Kim Yo-jong mentioned the day before, "The head of state (Chairman Kim Jong-un) personally observed the training of the firepower division assigned to a special mission." The 'special mission' is interpreted to mean that the warhead can be loaded with nuclear weapons.
Shin Jong-woo, Secretary General of the Korea Defense and Security Forum (KODEF), estimated that the propellant and launcher (7 axis) used in this launch were the same as those used for the mid-to-long-range solid fuel hypersonic ballistic missile 'Hwasong-16na' launched in April 2024.
According to North Korea's claim, the firing range for this launch is 1,000 km, and if launched from Wonsan, US military bases in Sasebo and Iwakuni, Japan, would be within range.
At the time of the Hwasong-16 launch, North Korea described it as a 'mid-to-long-range' missile, and with a range of more than 3,000 km, there was analysis that it could strike Guam, where US military reinforcements are concentrated and depart in the event of an emergency on the Korean Peninsula. If the same propellant had been used this time, it would have shown off its hypersonic missile capability, putting even Guam within its range.
Secretary-General Shin said of this missile, "We evaluate it as a mid-range missile to break through Guam's ballistic missile defense system," adding, "It appears that there is an intention to heighten tensions not only on the Korean Peninsula (range) but also in Northeast Asia by launching a mid-range hypersonic missile."
He added, “It was not a simple demonstration of force, but a demonstration that the advancement of the hypersonic weapon system was in its final stages.”
In addition, if solid fuel is used without the need for a fuel injection stage, the surprise launch capability has been increased.
There are also reservations about whether to use solid fuel. Hong Min, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said, “North Korea has a practice of specifying when converting to a solid,” and pointed out, “The absence of mention of the propellant in this announcement and report may be passive evidence of a ‘liquid.’”
However, it seems clear that North Korea has recently been pursuing the integration of hypersonic missiles with various ranges, showing off its completeness.
On the 20th of last month, North Korea conducted a launch test of an improved version of the 'Hwasong-11Ma' equipped with a hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV)-shaped warhead on a short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) with Chairman Kim Jong-un in attendance. 'Hwasong-11ma' is evaluated as a hypersonic missile mainly aimed at South Korea.
Then, within 13 days, another model was launched, with the range increased and the warhead changed from the previously commonly used glider-type HGV to a cone-type warhead. It is reported that authorities are weighing the possibility that the model launched this time is similar to the model launched in the Wonsan area on August 12.
North Korea did not disclose the launch on August 12 through state media, but this time it announced that it was a 'mid-range strategic missile.'
It has been 1 year and 10 months since January 2025 that North Korea announced that it had launched a mid-range hypersonic missile.
Senior Research Fellow Hong analyzed North Korea's latest hypersonic missile launch, saying, "It goes beyond showing off individual weapons and shows off integration itself," adding, "It is a portfolio signal that there is a means of interception and evasion in any range."
He said, “Considering the threat level of hypersonic missiles themselves, the risk of diversification, which makes precise strikes at each range possible, is important.”
A hypersonic missile is a missile that flies at a speed of Mach 5 or higher within the atmosphere and flies in an anomalous orbit that is different from the normal parabolic ballistic trajectory, and is characterized by being difficult to track and intercept.
Unlike general ballistic missiles, it glides for a certain section after performing a pull-up (descent and reascension) maneuver in the descent phase, but there are limits to trajectory detection with Korean and Japanese radar assets due to the influence of the curvature of the Earth.
This time too, our Joint Chiefs of Staff announced that it had flown 'more than 700 km' and Japan's Ministry of Defense had announced that it had flown '680 km', but North Korea announced that the range was 1,000 km.
At the time of the launch of the improved Hwaseong-11 Ma, the telemetry in the photo released by North Korea showed the distance as 908.2km, but our military only announced that the range was 'more than 600km'.
Regarding this pattern, Director Kim Yo-jung claimed, “When the wave-type flight trajectory method was applied, the enemy lost the target after the first jumping point.” He boasted, “There is virtually no way to avoid this blow,” mentioning low-altitude anomalous flight capabilities and the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI).
He also mentioned that the General Missile Bureau reported to Chairman Kim that “at least four flight trajectory methods can be set depending on the purpose and target.”
Secretary-General Shin Jong-woo said, "This means that it can attack a variety of enemies using various flight methods such as surfing and circling flight," and added, "It appears to mean that it can attack in a variety of ways, such as increasing speed and increasing gliding flight capabilities."
However, military authorities are still providing a relatively cautious assessment of the degree of advancement of North Korea's hypersonic missiles.
In a response submitted to the office of Rep. Yoo Yong-won of the People's Power Party in late August, the Defense Intelligence Headquarters of the Ministry of National Defense stated, "(North Korea) is also developing the Hwasong-16 series hypersonic missile with a mid- to medium-range range, and is showing some technological progress, but stable glide flight technology in a hypersonic environment appears to be insufficient."
