Pyongyang Says Kim Personally Oversaw Successful Hypersonic Missile Test

The official communique from North Korea re: their latest missile test added little in the way of major fresh insights to what we had already known, albeit a few details have drawn attention of DPRK watchers:

• The Korean Central News Agency said that Kim Jong Un personally attended the firing of a hypersonic missile, which would mark his first official appearance at a missile test since March 2020 (albeit there may have been unofficial visits in the interim). His presence suggests that the regime treats the ongoing works on hypersonic weapons with utmost attention.
• The state media said that the missile demonstrated "glide jump flight" at nearly 10 times the speed of sound, made a 240km "corkscrew" manoeuvre and hit a target 1,000km away from the launch site. It is unclear how advanced North Korea's hypersonic capability is but the latest test is a clear signal that Pyongyang is willing to become a serious contender in the global hypersonic arms race, which has so far involved only a handful of countries.