North KoreaWhy It Matters That North Korea Tested a Hypersonic Missile

By William Gallo

Published 29 September 2021

Like most ballistic missiles, hypersonic glide vehicle (HGVs) fly at hypersonic speeds, or faster than five times the speed of sound. But HGVs are in theory more difficult to detect and intercept, since they can fly at relatively low altitudes and be maneuvered in flight.

North Korea’s latest missile launch involved a new hypersonic weapon, state media said Wednesday, the country’s first test of an advanced missile system that would add yet another unpredictable component to its fast-expanding arsenal.

The state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) posted its first picture of the hypersonic missile, dubbed Hwasong-8, being launched Tuesday against the backdrop of a cloudy morning sky in the northern North Korean province of Jagang.

The KCNA report claimed the test was successful, adding that the hypersonic weapon was one of five “top-priority tasks” of a five-year defense plan outlined by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at a major political meeting in January.

“[The test] confirmed the navigational control and stability of the missile in the active section and also its technical specifications including the guiding maneuverability and the gliding flight characteristics of the detached hypersonic gliding warhead,” KCNA reported.

Defense experts say North Korea’s development of the so-called hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV) is the latest evidence it seeks the ability to penetrate U.S. missile defenses, both in Northeast Asia and the U.S. mainland.

Like most ballistic missiles, HGVs fly at hypersonic speeds, or faster than five times the speed of sound. But HGVs are in theory more difficult to detect and intercept, since they can fly at relatively low altitudes and be maneuvered in flight.

“A hypersonic missile would provide another means of precisely striking targets on the peninsula through allied missile defenses,” says Adam Mount, a senior fellow at the Federation of American Scientists.

The Big Strategy: To Evade, Overwhelm
Since it resumed major missile tests in 2019 amid a breakdown in talks with the United States, North Korea has unveiled multiple weapon systems designed to overwhelm or evade U.S. missile defenses.

Those new systems include a long-range cruise missile tested earlier this month, as well as short-range ballistic missiles that can be guided in flight.

The North has also unveiled technology allowing it to launch missiles from road-mobile vehicles, trains, and eventually even submarines — making its arsenal more undetectable, and therefore more survivable in a possible war.​

Though not all the weapons have been deployed or even fully tested, taken together they form a formidable threat to the United States and its allies, analysts warn.

“With so many capabilities being demonstrated but not fully tested, the (U.S.-South Korea) alliance will have to be ready for anything in a crisis,” Mount told VOA.