National Defense Minister Shin Won-sik assessed North Korea’s recently launched hypersonic missile as “incomplete.”
Minister Shin appeared on KBS’s “Sunday Diagnosis” program today and made this statement in response to North Korea’s claim through state media on the 3rd that it has “successfully launched a new medium-range solid-fuel hypersonic ballistic missile and long range”.
Minister Shin said: “For a hypersonic missile to perform the so-called glide maneuver during the descent phase at a speed greater than five times the speed of sound,” he added, “as a result of detailed analysis by South Korea and of the United States, North Korea’s missile is believed to have failed in its final glide flight in a hypersonic environment. “There is,” he said.
North Korea has launched hypersonic missile tests a total of five times since September 2021. The liquid fuel was used in three test launches through last year and in two test launches in January this year and ‘beginning of this month, launch preparation times were shortened and fuel was used.
Minister Shin analyzed that the shape of the hypersonic warhead was cone-shaped during the test launch in January this year, but was changed to a glide shape in the test launch earlier this month, saying: ” It appears that some technological advances have been made.” .”
Furthermore, since North Korea is investing all its efforts in developing hypersonic missiles, it is expected that it will one day succeed in developing them.
Minister Shin said: “The hypersonic missiles have a range of over 1,000 km, so we are developing them with the aim of targeting US military reinforcements rather than a direct attack on our country,” adding that the launch is to counter the hypersonic missiles that are difficult to intercept through evasive maneuvers. He said he would respond with a “kill chain” of pre-attack attacks or mid-phase attacks before gliding.
As for why North Korea is working hard to develop missiles despite its difficult economic situation, it was said that it “must be recognized as a nuclear state.”
Minister Shin pointed out that “North Korea spent between 800 and 1.3 trillion won on about 30 missile launches last year, an amount that can solve two years of food shortages.”
As for the possibility of Russian President Vladimir Putin visiting North Korea after China, he predicted that “the probability of a visit to North Korea is quite high.”
Regarding military cooperation between North Korea and Russia after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he added: “North Korea is estimated to mainly send artillery shells to Russia, and Russia provides various military technologies, food and fuel”.
#Shin #Wonsik #glide #flight #North #Koreas #hypersonic #missile #unsuccessful #incomplete #stage
