North Korea said on Saturday that it had tested an intermediate-range strategic missile that uses artificial intelligence and can change its flight path at low altitude. State media added on Sunday that leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the launch and called for continued efforts to strengthen the country's nuclear deterrent. The claims go beyond the earlier reports of a ballistic missile launch amid tensions over a mine blast in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), the heavily fortified buffer strip between the two Koreas.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected a ballistic missile fired early Saturday from the Wonsan area on North Korea's east coast toward the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan. It said the missile flew more than 700 kilometres. Hours later, Kim Yo Jong, the leader's sister and a senior ruling-party official, said the weapon was an "intermediate-range strategic missile" into which "AI was introduced", without giving details. She said there was "no way to avoid" it and that South Korea and Japan had failed to track it because of a "wave-like trajectory mode".
The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the missile hit a target 1,000 kilometres away in the sea off the east coast. It described the launch as a drill to train troops operating a "hypersonic strategic weapon system" and to test the reliability and mobility of the country's war deterrent. Kim Jong Un said Pyongyang must keep making its enemies recognise the "reliability and fatality" of its offensive weapons. State media photos showed him at the launch with his daughter, Ju-ae, and his wife, Ri Sol-ju. South Korean experts suggested the missile could be the Hwasong-16 Na hypersonic medium-range missile.
Outside analysts urged caution. Hong Sung-pyo of the Korea Institute for Military Affairs in Seoul said AI is increasingly used in military technology worldwide, but it is too early to confirm North Korea's claims. He noted that missiles that manoeuvre in their final phase are hard to intercept, but that does not guarantee accurate strikes. Some analysts say Pyongyang may be advancing rapidly with Russian military support in exchange for sending troops to Russia's war against Ukraine. Kim Jong Un said last month that AI should be raised in the country's weapons systems.
The launch came amid a dispute over a blast on September 21 that wounded three South Korean soldiers in the DMZ. Seoul and the US-led United Nations Command concluded that North Korean mines on the southern side of the border caused it, and South Korea's military demanded an apology. Pyongyang denies responsibility, and Kim Yo Jong called Seoul "despicable" on Friday, rejecting an overture for dialogue from President Lee Jae Myung. North Korea has carried out more than 10 missile tests this year. Analysts such as Yang Moo-jin, a former head of the University of North Korean Studies, see the launch as a rejection of Seoul's outreach: "Seoul called for easing tensions, but Pyongyang answered by escalating them."