North Korea said on Wednesday it successfully test-fired a new mid- to long-range solid-fuel hypersonic missile, Reuters reported, citing North Korean newspaper Rodong Sinmun.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspected the launch, Rodong Sinmun said, and lauded it as a strategic weapon that demonstrates the "absolute superiority" of North Korea's defense technology.
Kim said that North Korea has "fully turned all tactical, operational, and strategic-grade missiles of different ranges into solid-fuel, with warhead control, and capable of nuclearization."
The latest test comes a day after North Korea fired a suspected intermediate-range ballistic missile into the sea.
Several weeks ago, North Korea fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles toward its eastern waters, days after the end of South Korean-US military drills that the North viewed as an invasion rehearsal.
North Korea, which has tested dozens of missiles in the last year including its first intercontinental ballistic missiles since 2017, has recently upped the rhetoric.
In January, the country launched a hypersonic missile. In response, South Korea, the United States and Japan carried out joint naval drills in waters off southern Jeju Island.
North Korea then announced it had tested an "underwater nuclear weapon system" in response to the joint naval exercises.
Several weeks later, North Korea tested its new strategic cruise missile, claiming the test-firing had no impact on the security of neighboring countries.