North Korea confirms test of 'hypersonic missile'

North Korea on Thursday confirmed that it tested its newly developed hypersonic missile a day earlier.

In a statement, a defense official said that the Academy of Defense Science of the country test-fired a hypersonic missile on Wednesday.

The test launch was watched by top leaders of the Workers' Party of Korea and defense officials.

"The successive successes in the test launches in the hypersonic missile sector have strategic significance in that they hasten a task for modernizing strategic armed force of the state put forward at the 8th Party Congress and help fulfill the most important core task out of the five top priority tasks for the strategic arms sector in the five-year plan," said the statement, published by the Korean Central News Agency.

The missile made a "120 km lateral movement" from the initial launch azimuth and precisely hit a set target 700 kilometers (435 miles) away, it added

The reliability of the fuel ampoule system under winter weather conditions was also verified.

"The test launch clearly demonstrated the control and stability of the hypersonic gliding warhead which combined the multi-stage gliding jump flight and the strong lateral movement," the statement further added.

In October last year, North Korea for first time confirmed that they developed the hypersonic missile and tested it.

Hypersonic missiles usually fly five times the speed of sound, or 6,125 km per hour, giving little time for enemies to respond, Yonhap News Agency reported.

On Wednesday, South Korea's military said that North Korea fired a ballistic missile toward the East Sea in the first such test of the new year,

Following the new missile test, South Korean President Moon Jae-in called on North Korea to make efforts for dialogue to overcome the current situation in the region.

Tensions have been high on the Korean Peninsula after both Pyongyang and Seoul test-launched ballistic missiles in October last year.