During late last year’s Sixth Plenary Meeting of the Eighth Central Committee, North Korea considered and then selected a plan for a first stage deployment of hypersonic missiles in 2023, Daily NK has learned.
The decision appears to be part of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s “epochal strategy of the development of nuclear force and national defence for 2023,” which was mentioned in his report to the plenary session.
A source in the North Korean military told Daily NK on Jan. 5 that the plenary meeting introduced the plan for the first stage deployment of hypersonic missiles as one of the tasks to be achieved by the defense equipment sector.
“The Workers’ Party sent a written decision [regarding the plan] to the relevant sector,” he said.
North Korea first tested a hypersonic missile in September of 2021 and conducted a final test launch in January of last year, claiming it to be a major success.
Hypersonic missiles are reportedly difficult to intercept as they can conduct evasive maneuvers at low altitudes of under 50 kilometers.
If North Korea actually deploys hypersonic missiles, they will constitute a significant military threat.
Regarding the deployment of the missiles, all that remains is the final verification stage from the military, munitions industry and defense equipment sectors, the source said.
Given that North Korea decided during the party’s plenary meeting late last year to push the deployment of the missiles in 2023, the military, munitions industry and defense sector may carry out their screening, verification, production and acquisition processes in stages throughout the year.
The source said North Korea highlighted the importance of deploying hypersonic missiles, calling the development of “dominance over the military force of the US imperialists and their puppets through nimble, multifaceted means of attack is the policy line of the new year [2023] for accelerating the strengthening of our self-defense power.”
However, North Korean researchers working on hypersonic missile technology reportedly say that although North Korea’s hypersonic missiles are maneuverable, they need to be improved in terms of ability to defeat enemy jamming, guidance communication technology, glide path technology and missile speed.
North Korea will deploy the hypersonic missiles to two missile battalions organized on a trial basis within the Strategic Force, the source said.
Within the Strategic Force, officials are reportedly emphasizing the military significance of the plenary session’s decision to form and deploy two hypersonic missile battalions, which they say aims to give North Korea the ability to “quickly, variably and simultaneously hit South Korea and Japan, along with US strategic bases in those areas.”
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