North Korea has confirmed that its launch, which is believed to have caused full ground stops at all West Coast and Hawaii-based US airports for about 15 minutes no Monday, was a hypersonic missile.
Kim Jong Un personally oversaw the successful test of a hypersonic missile, and state media has confirmed the missile carrying a 'hypersonic gliding vehicle' hit 'the set target' 620miles away.
On Tuesday, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed it had ordered a full ground stop at all West Coast airports on Monday.
While the FAA would not confirm the launch was behind its almost unprecedented move, the order came just moments after Pyongyang fired the missile at 2.27pm PST on Monday.
At around 2.30pm, Air traffic controllers at Burbank in California told pilots to land due to a 'national security threat'.
At the same time, a Honolulu-based air traffic controller was heard, in publicly available audio recordings, telling a pilot: 'We have something going on, we might have to scramble fighters shortly, just hold there.'
The stop only lasted for 15 minutes and also affected Hawaii.
Pictured: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un watches what the North Korean government says a test launch of a hypersonic missile on January 11, 2022 in North Korea
North Korea has confirmed that its launch, which is believed to have caused full ground stops at all West Coast and Hawaii-based US airports for about 15 minutes no Monday, was a hypersonic missile
Tuesday's missile test, which came as the UN Security Council met in New York to discuss Pyongyang's weapons program, sparked swift condemnation, with the State Department branding it a 'threat... to the international community.'
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has vowed to work to denuclearize North Korea and criticized its 'systemic and widespread' human rights abuses during a visit to Seoul with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin last March.
The United States is allied with South Korea and President Biden has said he and South Korean President Moon Jae-in would work together to tackle the threat posed by North Korea's nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.
The recent launches come after the US completed a huge $1.5billion long-range radar for a homeland missile defense system in Alaska last month, which it says can track ballistic missiles as well as hypersonic weapons from countries such as North Korea.
This was the third reported North Korean test of a hypersonic gliding missile. The first, which took place four months ago, was followed by one last week.
North Korea's state news agency KCNA said the most recent test demonstrated 'the superior maneuverability of the hypersonic glide vehicle'.
South Korea's military, which
