Kim Yo-jong mocks South Korea and Japan's detection capabilities of North Korea's hypersonic missiles... Ministry of Defense "Intercept possible"

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Hyo-jung = The Ministry of National Defense announced on the 4th that the hypersonic missiles recently launched by North Korea are sufficiently capable of being detected and intercepted by ROK-US defense assets.

The Ministry of National Defense announced in a media notice that day, "South Korea and the United States maintain a solid joint defense posture, and the missiles recently launched by North Korea are assessed to be sufficiently detectable and interceptable with the defense assets held by South Korea and the United States."

The Ministry of National Defense emphasized, "Our military closely monitored North Korea's recent series of missile launches from the preparation stage, detected and tracked the missiles immediately after launch, and accurately identified the origin of the launch."

He added, "North Korea's ballistic missile launch is a serious act that violates UN Security Council resolutions. We urge North Korea to immediately stop actions that increase tensions on the Korean Peninsula and participate in efforts to establish peace on the Korean Peninsula."

North Korea launched a ballistic missile from the Wonsan area into the East Sea at around 6:30 a.m. the previous day. Our Joint Chiefs of Staff (Joint Chiefs of Staff) announced that this missile flew 'more than 700 km' and the Japanese Ministry of Defense announced that it flew '680 km'.

Afterwards, North Korea claimed in a state-run media report that it had launched a hypersonic 'mid-range strategic missile' and that it flew 1,000 km, showing the difference in the ranges announced by both sides.

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, making detection and interception difficult.

On the day of launch, Kim Yo-jung, the head of the Workers' Party's General Affairs Department, mocked Korea and Japan's detection capabilities, saying, "When the wave-type flight trajectory method (an expression referring to the descent and re-ascension maneuver of a hypersonic missile) was applied, the enemy lost the target after the first jumping point."

He also mentioned low-altitude anomalous flight capabilities and the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI), boasting that “there is virtually no way to avoid this blow.”

The Ministry of National Defense's statement today actively refutes Director Kim's claim that the South Korean military's detection and interception capabilities are limited.

North Korea launched this missile in a northeastern direction between Japan and Russia. In this case, it is difficult to detect the trajectory to the end due to the influence of the earth's curvature and limitations of radar assets, but the government's position is that it is possible to sufficiently detect and intercept it if it is fired in the southern direction targeting our side.