SEOUL: North Korea said on Thursday it had tested a “cutting-edge” new weapon system using hypersonic missiles aimed at bolstering its defenses against Pyongyang’s foes.
The launch was detected by Seoul’s military on Wednesday and was Pyongyang’s first of its kind in months.
It came a week before world leaders, including US President Donald Trump, are set to descend on South Korea for a major regional summit.
Top military official Pak Jong Chon declared the “new cutting-edge weapon system is a clear proof of steadily upgrading self-defensive technical capabilities of the DPRK,” state news agency KCNA said, using North Korea’s official acronym.
KCNA said the test was aimed at enhancing the “sustainability and effectiveness of strategic deterrence against potential enemies.”
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was not reported to have attended the launch.
State media said the two “hypersonic projectiles” had been launched south of the capital Pyongyang and had hit a target in the country’s northeast.
Images shared by KCNA showed a missile flying through the air, before hitting a target and exploding in a hail of black dirt and smoke.
Hypersonic missiles travel at more than five times the speed of sound and can maneuver mid-flight, making them harder to track and intercept.
North Korea says tested ‘cutting-edge’ new weapon system
https://arab.news/vtv9r
North Korea says tested ‘cutting-edge’ new weapon system
US Senate candidates in Texas make final pitches to voters
- Democrats, hungry to win a Senate race for the first time since 1988, see an opening, but have their own knotty race to figure out
SAN ANTONIO: A heated US Senate race in Texas entered its final stretch on Sunday with candidates on both sides of the aisle making final pitches to voters ahead of Tuesday’s primary, the nation’s first big contest of the 2026 midterm elections.
Incumbent Republican US Sen. John Cornyn is trying to avoid being the first Republican senator from Texas to lose a primary, fighting challenges from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and US Rep. Wesley Hunt.
HIGHLIGHT
Despite his long career in Texas politics, Paxton has painted himself as a Washington outsider and a staunch supporter of Trump.
Democrats, hungry to win a Senate race for the first time since 1988, see an opening, but have their own knotty race to figure out.
US Rep. Jasmine Crockett, the rhetorical brawler and regular antagonist for President Donald Trump, is stressing her federal experience and is scheduled to meet voters in the Dallas area with Maryland Sen. Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland.
Crockett was endorsed on Friday by former Vice President Kamala Harris.
State Rep. James Talarico, a softspoken seminarian who emphasizes his crossover appeal to Republicans, was set to hold a rally in San Antonio as part of a final tour that he describes as a movement.
But Cornyn’s precarious stature as an incumbent vulnerable in his own party’s primary has been the focus of a majority of the massive sums spent by both sides in the run up to Mar. 3.
“Complacency is a killer,” Cornyn told voters on Saturday at a seafood restaurant in The Woodlands, a Houston suburb. “It kills relationships. It kills careers.”
Senate Republican leaders in Washington, working to hold their thin majority, have worried out loud for months that Democrats could have a shot at a long out-of-reach Texas seat, if Republicans nominate Paxton, who is popular with MAGA voters but has had years of legal problems.
