NKorea: Kim Jong Un Oversees Hypersonic Missile Test

Facts

• North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reportedly led a successful ground jet of a multi-stage solid-fuel engine for a new-type intermediate-range hypersonic missile on Tuesday.¹
• This development, if confirmed, would indicate progress in efforts to develop a hypersonic missile — one of many high-tech weapons systems that Kim had pledged to introduce in 2021. Pyongyang's Intermediate-range missiles can be designed to hit Guam, home to US military bases.²
• Previously, Kim had supervised live-fire drills to test the 'real war capabilities' of 'newly-equipped, super-large' multiple rocket launchers — referred to as KN-25 by Seoul and Washington.³
• The tests coincide with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit to Seoul to attend the third Summit of Democracy, a multinational meeting to boost solidarity and shared values among democracies.⁴
• Last year, Kim had reportedly guided similar launch tests for a new short-range ballistic missile system. Over the past weeks, he has supervised military drills simulating attacks on and infiltration of the South.⁵
• Earlier, Pyongyang had warned that South Korea and the US would pay a 'dear price' over the recently concluded 11-day annual Freedom Shield joint military exercises.⁶

Sources: ¹KCNA Watch, ²Politico, ³Al Jazeera, ⁴Yonhap News Agency, ⁵NK News and ⁶France 24.

Narratives

• Anti-North Korea Narrative, as provided by Hudson. As much as North Korea wishes to flex its military potential and threaten war with bombastic rhetoric, it would be best for Pyongyang not to push this too far. Its current rate of military drills will be near-impossible to sustain, and the North is well known to suffer extreme economic hardship. Dangerous propaganda and military activity are a mask for a vulnerable nation.
• Pro-North Korea narrative, as provided by Lowy Institute. North Korea's recent spate of military drills comes in response to Washington and Seoul speaking of regime change while carrying out joint war games. Were Kim planning to unilaterally wage a war against them — something that's not in his country's best interest — anytime soon, he wouldn't be sending ammunition and missiles to Russia.

Predictions