North Korea said Kim Jong Un oversaw a Saturday launch of an intermediate-range missile it claims can change course at low altitude using artificial intelligence. Seoul said it flew more than 700 kilometres.
North Korean state media said leader Kim Jong Un oversaw a Saturday launch drill of a missile that officials in Pyongyang described as able to change its flight path at low altitude with artificial intelligence. AFP, citing KCNA, said the drill was meant to train soldiers on a hypersonic strategic weapon system.
South Korea's military said the missile was fired from around Wonsan early Saturday and flew more than 700 kilometres toward the sea off the east coast. Kim Yo Jong said Japanese and South Korean tracking failed once a wave-like trajectory was used, and she cited the missile's speed without giving a figure. Those claims were not independently verified.
KCNA quoted Kim as saying the strategic missile troops had shown their counterattack posture. Photos released by state media showed Kim with his daughter Ju Ae and wife Ri Sol Ju, AFP reported. Seoul's spy agency has previously described Ju Ae as the most likely successor, a judgment not confirmed by Pyongyang.
The launch came days after Seoul's military demanded an apology for a blast in the Demilitarized Zone that wounded three South Korean soldiers and that the South blamed on the North. Pyongyang's statement did not link the missile drill to that incident.
No independent technical assessment of the AI claim was available in the wire reports. South Korean and Japanese militaries are the public sources for range, while the guidance claim rests on North Korean statements.