North Korea Fires Hypersonic Missile With AI Capabilities as Tensions Flare Over DMZ Landmine Blast

North Korea announced Saturday that it had test-fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile, claiming the weapon can manoeuvre in flight to evade missile defences in South Korea and Japan. The launch was overseen by leader Kim Jong Un, according to state media.

Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of the North Korean leader, said the missile was "strategic," a term that suggests it is designed to carry nuclear warheads. She also claimed it can alter its trajectory at low altitudes and has unspecified artificial intelligence capabilities, which she said would make it extremely hard to intercept. She called the weapon "impossible to avoid."

According to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, the missile was fired early Saturday from the eastern coastal Wonsan area. Japan's Defense Ministry put the distance at roughly 680 kilometres, while South Korea's military assessed it flew more than 700 kilometres. North Korea's state media claimed the missile struck a target 1,000 kilometres away in the sea off the country's east coast.

In her statement, Kim Yo Jong pointed to the gap between the two US allies' figures as proof that they could not follow the missile in flight. "Whenever we applied the wavelike trajectory mode to missiles, the enemy failed to track the targets from their first skip points," she said. "There is no way to avoid this attack."

South Korea's Defense Ministry pushed back on Sunday, saying its military had closely monitored preparations for the launch, detected and tracked the missile immediately after liftoff, and accurately identified the launch site. The ministry assessed that North Korea's recently launched missiles were within the capabilities of South Korean and US missile-defence assets to detect and intercept.

The launch came amid heightened tensions over a landmine blast inside the Demilitarized Zone last month that injured three South Korean soldiers. South Korea has blamed North Korea for planting the mines and called for an apology, calling it a "blatant" violation of the armistice agreement that ended the 1950-53 Korean War.

A joint inspection by South Korea and the US-led United Nations Command concluded that North Korea had planted the mines. North Korea has denied responsibility for the incident, accusing Seoul of fabricating the findings and warning of "merciless" retaliation if the South takes any corresponding actions.

Kim Yo Jong issued a sharply worded statement on Friday rejecting Seoul's demand for an apology, calling the claims "groundless" and saying North Korea had not deliberately laid mines targeting South Korean troops. She warned of retaliation if the South fires on troops working along the border.

Experts raised the possibility that North Korea fired the Hwasong-16 Na hypersonic medium-range ballistic missile, citing state media reports that the launched missile was capable of changing its flight orbit at a low altitude. The missile appears to be a cone-shaped hypersonic system first tested in 2022.

The launch is the latest in a string of recent military displays by Pyongyang, which also include missile tests, live-fire drills, and the commissioning of a new warship. North Korea has carried out more than 10 missile tests this year.

South Korea's military said it had raised its surveillance level for further launches and was sharing information closely with Washington and Tokyo. The US Pacific Command said the launch "does not pose an immediate threat to American personnel or territory or to our allies."

For now, the Korean Peninsula is once again on edge. A missile that Pyongyang claims cannot be intercepted. A landmine blast that Seoul blames on the North. A sister's threats and a brother's weapons tests. And two US allies struggling to agree on how far the missile actually flew. The next test may come sooner than anyone expects.

Written by Christiane Hofreiter christiane.hofreiter@alpineweekly.com