North Korea tests new hypersonic weapon as Kim Jong Un rebuffs talks

North Korea said it tested a new hypersonic weapon designed to evade missile defences, as US President Donald Trump and his South Korean counterpart Lee Jae Myung struggle to revive diplomacy with Kim Jong Un.

North Korean state media said on Tuesday that the “new weapon”, which was tested on Sunday, was “of great significance”. Accompanying photographs showed a screen depicting what appeared to be an upgraded short-range ballistic missile fitted with a hypersonic glide vehicle.

Such weapons combine speed and manoeuvrability at low altitude, making them harder to intercept than conventional ballistic missiles. The on-screen trajectory appeared to show the weapon descending before pulling up again at low altitude.

Only China and Russia currently have such technology in use, “so . . . it is a pretty big deal for North Korea”, said Peter Ward of the Sejong Institute in Seoul.

If operational, Ward added, the system would “make Korean missile defences less effective in the event that Kim Jong Un fancies taking potshots at South Korean civilian or military targets.”

Kim, who observed the test with his teenage daughter and purported successor Kim Ju Ae, called the weapon an “irresistible force” that would be an “incurable headache” for the regime’s adversaries, according to state media.

The weapons test will come as a blow to Lee, who is in New York for the UN General Assembly, where he is expected to lay out his ambitions for improved relations with Pyongyang.

Lee has already proposed dropping demands for Pyongyang to relinquish its nuclear weapons as a precondition for talks, suggesting instead a freeze on further nuclear weapons testing or development before pursuing eventual disarmament.

Trump has also repeatedly expressed interest in meeting Kim again as early as this year, with the White House saying the US president was open to dialogue “without any preconditions”. Trump met Kim three times during his first term, but negotiations on denuclearisation were ultimately unsuccessful.

But Pyongyang has rebuffed those overtures. One South Korean official who was not authorised to speak with the media said there was no active dialogue between Pyongyang and Washington or Seoul, “at least not through official channels”.

The regime was also unmoved when Trump last month scaled back annual military drills with South Korea, which he said were “hostile” to Pyongyang, a move that rattled Seoul.

Pyongyang is now in a much stronger position than during Trump’s first term, according to analysts. Kim has strengthened his regime’s military capabilities and expanded military and economic ties with Russia.

North Korea “doesn’t need anything from the US now”, not even sanctions relief, the official said.

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North Korea has also formally renounced its commitment to reunification with the South, which it defines as a foreign adversary, cementing its separate status.

“The North Koreans are driving a really hard bargain, and don’t seem all that interested” in dialogue, Ward said. “Lack of leverage and North Korea’s far more advantageous geopolitical, economic and technically advanced position weigh on everything.”

But he did not rule out the possibility of a future rapprochement. “Never say never,” Ward said. “I think Lee is doing what he can to make it happen.”