North Korea launched a hypersonic ballistic missile towards Japan

On April 2, North Korea launched a hypersonic missile into the Sea of Japan. According to the South Korean military, this is North Koreaʼs third ballistic missile launch this year.

The South Korean agency Yonhap and the North Korean KCNA write about it.

The Hwasongpo-16NA medium-range hypersonic missile was launched from a military range in the suburbs of Pyongyang at 06:53 local time.

North Korea said that the missile reached a maximum height of 101.1 km, flew 1 000 km and fell in the waters of the Sea of Japan.

South Koreaʼs Defense Ministry, quoted by Kyodo, said the launched missile was designed to fly on irregular and low-altitude trajectories at five times the speed of sound, making it difficult to shoot down or track with radar.

The Japanese government protested to North Korea. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida noted that North Koreaʼs ballistic missile launches are a violation of UN Security Council resolutions.

The missile test was conducted 15 days after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un conducted a training exercise with super-large missile launchers in the western region of the country.