North Korea Military Programs

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un personally oversaw Jan. 4, 2026 test‑flights of a claimed hypersonic missile system, which state media said were aimed at checking combat readiness and strengthening the country’s nuclear war deterrent, as South Korea and Japan detected and condemned multiple launches. The tests came just hours before South Korean President Lee Jae Myung left for China to press President Xi Jinping to help ease peninsula tensions, and as Pyongyang denounced the U.S. operation that removed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro as proof of what it called the United States’ 'rogue and brutal' nature.