South Korea test-fires hypersonic missile after North's test

President Lee Jae Myung oversaw the test-firing of a South Korean hypersonic glide vehicle, days after Kim Jong Un watched an intermediate-range hypersonic test in the North.

Why it matters: The dueling tests put offensive hypersonic weapons on both sides of the DMZ for the first time, hardening the peninsula's deterrence spiral as US-South Korea-Japan missile-defense cooperation ramps up.

Data as of October 8, 2026. Single-sourced from the Reuters report via the Daily Maverick; North Korean test details rest on Pyongyang's announcement.

President Lee Jae Myung oversaw the test-firing of a hypersonic glide vehicle on Thursday, South Korea’s presidential office said, the South’s answer to the intermediate-range hypersonic missile test Kim Jong Un supervised in the North days earlier. Seoul describes the weapon as a “strategic asset” able to strike with little warning on an unpredictable flight path. After the successful launch, Lee told researchers at the state-run defense institute to move quickly to deploy the missile.

The test lands in a week already tense over the two countries’ rival arsenals and the diplomatic row over North Korean prisoners of war transferred from Ukraine to Seoul.

South Korea test-fires hypersonic missile after North's test

Sources