Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) and president of the State Affairs of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), guided the first test-fire of Hwasongpho-16B, a new-type intermediate-range solid-fueled ballistic missile loaded with newly-developed hypersonic gliding warhead, on the spot on April 2.

Accompanying him was Kim Jong Sik, vice department director of the WPK Central Committee.

The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un was greeted on the spot by General Jang Chang Ha, general director of the Missile Administration, and leading officials in the field of defence science.

The test-fire was aimed at confirming the designed technical specifications of the new-type intermediate-range hypersonic missile as a whole and verifying the reliability of this weapon system.

It was conducted in the way of verifying the characteristics of gliding-skip flight orbit and cross-range maneuvering capability of the hypersonic glide vehicle (warhead) while confining its range to less 1,000 kilometers, in consideration of safety, and forcibly controlling the speed and altitude by means of delaying the start-up of the second-stage engine and rapidly changing the flight orbit in the active region.

The defence scientists were filled with the boundless pride of being scientists of the great military power, great confidence and militant enthusiasm as they were to conduct the test-fire of another powerful ultra-modern weapon firmly defending our state’s right to self-defence in the presence of Kim Jong Un again, who has personally blazed the ceaseless untrodden path to developing and perfecting ultra-modern weapons with his unshakable will and inexhaustible energy, out of the noble sense of responsibility for the destiny of the country and people, and devoted himself to their steady and rapid development.

Kim Jong Un went to the launching position and looked round the new-type intermediate-range solid-fueled ballistic missile Hwasongpho-16B loaded with a hypersonic glide warhead to learn in detail about the weapon system.

Then he mounted the command observation post and received a report on the plan for test-fire of the missile and issued an order to launch it.

General Jang Chang Ha guided the test-fire.

When a command was given, the high-tech missile was launched, fully demonstrating the military muscle of the Republic.

The hypersonic glide warhead, separated from the missile after its launch towards the northeast at an army unit's training field on the outskirts of Pyongyang Municipality, reached its first peak at the height of 101.1 kilometers and the second 72.3 kilometers while making 1,000-km-long flight as scheduled to accurately hit the waters of the East Sea of Korea.

The test-fire had no adverse effect on the security of neighboring countries.

The characteristics of the prompt and excellent maneuverability of the newly-developed hypersonic glide warhead was clearly proved through the test-fire and the important military strategic value of the new-type intermediate-range hypersonic missile was significantly appreciated through the verification under the most extreme test conditions.

Expressing great satisfaction over the result of the test-fire, Kim Jong Un highly appreciated the feats of the officials, scientists and technicians in the field of defence science who carried out the order given by the Party most excellently, truthfully and perfectly by turning out with their do-or-die determination in the drive for developing the Juche-based weaponry to implement the strategic plan of the Party Central Committee and fully displaying their intense loyalty and patriotism.

He said with pride that another powerful strategic offensive weapon was developed to demonstrate the absolute advantage of our defence science and technology and thus we came to successfully implement the Party Central Committee’s three principles of building missile armed force for rapidly, accurately and powerfully striking any target in the enemy side worldwide by perfecting the project for putting all the tactical, operational and strategic missiles with various ranges on solid-fueled, warhead-controlled and nuclear warhead-carrying basis.

Noting that the current epoch-making success serves as a special event in which a great change will be brought about in enhancing the nuclear war deterrent of the armed forces of our Republic, he stressed that it is a precious outcome of the arduous struggle by our defence science institutes spanning nearly ten years, the demonstration of the validity of the WPK’s line of building the military capability for self-defence and a worthwhile victory won by our ability, wisdom and efforts.

Gravely referring to the military confrontational acts against the DPRK by the enemies who have recently run higher fever in boosting their military alliance and staging all sorts of war drills and thus threatened the security of our state every moment, he said that it is the most urgent task at present for our state to develop the overwhelming power capable of containing and controlling the enemies and that our defence science sector should continuously bring bigger successes, remaining more faithful to its historic duty to steadily improve the strongest national defence capacity.

He affirmed that the WPK will reliably defend the peace, prosperity and future of the country by steadily, rapidly and more thoroughly bolstering up the military capability for self-defence.

He set forth the strategic tasks for making continued leaping forward and innovations in the development of ultra-modern weapons by more signally strengthening the independence and modernity of the Juche-oriented military industry.

Inspired by his deep trust and militant encouragement, all the defence scientists hardened the firm determination to devote themselves with redoubled courage to the sacred struggle for further boosting the arsenal of the Juche revolution, true to the leadership of the Party Central Committee and thus bolster up the matchless national defence capability with serial successes in developing ultra-modern strategic and tactical weapon systems.