Jang Chang Ha, Director of the Missile General Bureau of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, answered a question put by a KCNA reporter on the 14th in connection with the test of a hypersonic glide vehicle conducted by the Republic of Korea.

Question: On the 8th, the ROK announced that it had for the first time test-launched a hypersonic glide vehicle under research and development, and made public several photographs.

How does our national defence scientific research sector assess this?

Answer: I have also seen the photographs, which are very interesting.

Looking at the photograph in which the vehicle plunges vertically just before falling into the sea, one can see that there is not a speck of soot on the surface of the glide vehicle and that the colour of its paint is clean—something that makes it impossible to believe it passed through a hypersonic flight environment accompanied by ultra-high temperatures.

Those who have never conducted a test of a hypersonic glide vehicle cannot know what changes occur on the surface of the vehicle.

Those photographs can serve as evidence that, contrary to what they have announced, the vehicle may not have been able to perform hypersonic flight.

Perhaps, for many national defence technology experts, these photographs and the unclear content of the announcement made public by the ROK will give rise to various suspicions.

Question: I understand that many countries of the world are competitively clinging to the development of hypersonic weapon systems.

Why is that so?

Answer: Do not ask me such a question; if you are interested, it is better to read military technical journals.