North Korea Fires Ballistic Missiles Again... In Response to South's 'Hypersonic' Success?

[Anchor]

North Korea has fired multiple ballistic missiles into the East Sea. One of them was found to have flown more than 900 kilometers, in what appears to be a show of force against South Korea's hypersonic missile test launch.

Reporter Choi Jae-yeong reports.

[Reporter]

North Korea fired ballistic missiles into the East Sea from the Pyongyang area starting around 9:20 a.m. yesterday (October 12).

The Joint Chiefs of Staff stated that multiple missiles of different types were launched, and one of them flew more than 900 kilometers.

Japan's Ministry of Defense also announced that "at least two" missiles were launched, analyzing that the missile fired around 9:19 a.m. flew about 220 kilometers at a maximum altitude of 20 kilometers, while the missile fired 17 minutes later at around 9:36 a.m. flew over 910 kilometers at a maximum altitude of 70 kilometers.

The missile with the shorter flight distance is presumed to possibly be a Hwasong-11 series short-range ballistic missile operationally deployed by North Korea or a KN-25 super-large multiple rocket launcher.

In contrast, analysts suggest that the missile flying more than 900 kilometers could be a hypersonic missile or a ballistic missile equipped with a high-power warhead.

[Shin Jong-woo / Secretary General of the Korea Defense and Security Forum (Yesterday): "If it conducted a glide flight, it is highly likely to be a hypersonic missile under development by North Korea, and if it did not display glide flight characteristics, there is also the possibility of a missile equipped with a high-power warhead."]

North Korea's provocation came four days after the South Korean government disclosed the successful first test launch of a domestic hypersonic glide vehicle.

[Jang Do-young / Head of Public Affairs Office at the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Yesterday): "We currently assess this as a show of force against our successful hypersonic missile test launch conducted on October 8, and..."]

The National Security Office convened an emergency security situation review meeting to check readiness posture and urged North Korea to immediately halt ballistic missile launches.

Video by Kim Hyun-sang | Video Editing by Oh Young-taek | Design by Yang Ki-tae
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.