North Korea Hypersonic Missile Test Goes Wrong

Contrails believed to be created by a North Korean missile are observed over seas off South Korea’s westernmost Yeonpyeong Island on June 26. The suspected hypersonic missile launched by North Korea exploded in flight, South Korea's military said.

A suspected hypersonic missile fired by North Korea early on Wednesday exploded mid-flight over its eastern seas, according to the South, in the latest setback for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a background briefing in Seoul that the projectile flew about 155 miles following its launch from the area around the North's capital, Pyongyang, but the event is believed to have ended in failure, the Yonhap news agency reported.

The ballistic missile test appeared to be a preemptive show of force aimed at the trilateral exercise beginning later the same day between the United States and its allies, South Korea and Japan—naval maneuvers the North has previously described as rehearsals for an invasion.

North Korea's latest missile launch at about 5:30 a.m. local time—its first since May 30—was also detected by Japan. Its defense ministry said the object reached an altitude of about 62 miles before splashing down in the Sea of Japan, known in both Koreas as the East Sea.

Pyongyang's "repeated launches of ballistic and other missiles threaten the peace and security of Japan, the region and the international community," Tokyo said in a statement.

The Hawaii-based U.S. Indo-Pacific Command condemned the launch but said it "does not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel, or territory, or to our allies."

North Korea's embassy in Beijing didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Newsweek's map, based on geospatial data published by the Japanese defense ministry, shows the approximate path taken by the North Korean missile.

The missile and its contrail were visible from South Korea's western islands of Baengnyeong and Yeonpyeong, near the de facto inter-Korean maritime border, known as the Northern Limit Line.

Kim has overseen the most strategic missile tests of any North Korean leader by far. Since 2021, his regime has also claimed several sophisticated weapons tests, including the verification in April of a hypersonic warhead that state media suggested could strike the continental United States.

Hypersonic missiles travel at Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound, and are meant to overcome air defenses with a combination of maneuverability and unpredictability. However, subject matter experts have been unable to independently assess North Korea's test results.

Military officials in Seoul said they suspected Pyongyang had tested a hypersonic missile powered by solid fuel, citing the apparently larger than usual plumes of smoke seen from the projectile, Yonhap said.

Solid-fuel missiles are designed to be prepared in a shorter period of time and are therefore harder to detect before launch.

Separately on Wednesday, South Korea said the North had launched a new barrage of trash- and sewage-carrying balloons across the border, bringing the total number of such objects to more than 2,000 since late May.

Amid worsening tensions on the Korean Peninsula, the neighbors have returned to Cold War-era psychological warfare in the form of balloons and loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts.

A day earlier, North Korea slammed the U.S. aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt's arrival in the South's port city of Busan, 200 miles southeast of Seoul, ahead of the planned trilateral naval drills.

Yoon Suk Yeol became the first sitting South Korean president since 1994 to board a U.S. Navy flat-top warship, in what he called a symbol of Washington's security commitment to Seoul.

Last week, Kim hosted President Vladimir Putin of Russia in a high-profile state visit that concluded with the signing of a new treaty between the longtime allies.

The countries pledged mutual assistance if the other is attacked and also aimed to boost cooperation in space, with Moscow thought to have exported rocket boosters to Pyongyang in exchange for North Korean munitions for use in the war in Ukraine—both governments deny trading arms.

Asked on Tuesday about the prospect of North Korea putting boots on the ground in Ukraine, Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters it was "something to keep an eye on."

"If I were North Korean personnel management...I would be questioning my choices on sending my forces to be cannon fodder in an illegal war against Ukraine," Ryder said.

Russia's foreign ministry couldn't be reached for comment.

Start your unlimited Newsweek trial