North Korea: Kim Jong Un oversees the launch of a hypersonic missile whose trajectory would be corrected by AI

Fired near Wonsan, the missile traveled more than 700 km. Pyongyang says AI makes it impossible to intercept; Seoul and Washington dispute.

Kim Jong Un watched on Saturday, October 3, alongside his daughter Kim Ju Ae and his wife Ri Sol Ju, the firing of an intermediate-range missile from the Wonsan region on the east coast. According to the South Korean military, the device flew more than 700 kilometers. The exercise was officially aimed at training units in charge of the "hypersonic strategic weapon system".

The novelty highlighted by Pyongyang is the use of artificial intelligence to adjust the trajectory in flight: according to Kim Yo Jong, the leader's sister, the missile can change its course at low altitude, which would leave "no way" to avoid it. State media published the coordinates of the point of impact with several decimal places, an accuracy of around 30 cm that analysts read as a sign of the regime's assurance.

The South Korean General Staff refutes this claimed invulnerability: it believes that the missile remained within the detection and interception capabilities of the means deployed jointly by Seoul and Washington. The launch comes in a tense climate, after an explosion in the demilitarized zone that wounded three South Korean soldiers and for which the North denies responsibility.