North Korea claims to have successfully tested a new generation medium-range ballistic missile equipped with a hypersonic warhead.
(Baonghean.vn) - On April 3, North Korea announced that it had successfully test-fired a new generation intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) equipped with a hypersonic warhead, emphasizing that all missiles it is currently developing are nuclear-capable and use solid fuel.
According to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on April 3, Kim Jong-un, General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and President of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, directed the testing of the aforementioned missile, called Hwasongpho-16B, on April 2.
Earlier, the South Korean military said it had detected the launch of an IRBM from the Pyongyang area, and the missile flew about 600 km before falling into the sea east of North Korea.
The aforementioned missile launch marks North Korea's third ballistic missile test this year. In January, North Korea launched a solid-fuel hypersonic medium-range missile. KCNA quoted leader Kim Jong-un as saying that the successful test launch of the Hwasong-16 missile confirms that all of North Korea's strategic missiles now use solid fuel and are capable of carrying mobile nuclear warheads.
Meanwhile, on April 2, the South Korean Ministry of Defense announced that it had conducted a joint air exercise with Washington and Tokyo involving nuclear-capable B-52H bombers and F-15K fighter jets near the Korean Peninsula.
