North Korea test-fired a suspected hypersonic missile Wednesday which exploded mid-flight, South Korean military authorities said, in a launch that comes amid growing tensions in the peninsula involving military drills, mutual defense pacts, border breaches and trash balloons among other things.
A man watches a television screen showing a news broadcast with file footage of a North Korean ... [+]
The South Korean military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the launch took place from an area near North Korea’s capital Pyongyang at around 5.30 a.m. local time and it was aimed at the waters off its eastern coast.
Citing an unnamed military source, Yonhap News Agency reported the missile is believed to be a hypersonic missile and the test likely failed as the missile exploded after flying around 155 miles (250 km).
The South Korean military suspects the weapon used solid fuel—an advancement that will allow Pyongyang to make quicker and harder to detect launches unlike missiles using liquid propellants which take time to fuel before launch.
This is a developing story.