North Korea has reportedly tested a strategic cruise missile fitted with a dispersal warhead and assessed the weapon’s ability to conduct a vertical strike, in its latest reported missile activity.
The country’s Missile Administration carried out the tests on 2 November, according to state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
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The agency said the exercise examined the warhead’s power and the missile’s flight characteristics during a vertical attack.
“The Warhead Institute of the Missile Administration said it confirmed that the middle-sized dispersal warhead tipped on the cruise missile is capable of turning into ashes a target area of 5 to 6 hectares with its highest-density power,” KCNA reported.
KCNA said the Cruise Missile System Institute, a research and development body under the Missile Administration, had improved the missile’s terminal manoeuvrability for vertical strikes, taking account of the geographical characteristics of target areas.
The Missile Administration’s director said North Korea needed to develop a wider range of weapons systems to protect national security and deter threats.
The official said the test had demonstrated the country’s “practical combat power.”
South Korea’s military said that it retained the capability and readiness to respond to North Korean provocations.
The Korea Times quoted joint chiefs of staff spokesperson Captain Jang Do-young as saying: “Our military has already developed the precision strike capabilities and relevant weapons systems, outplaying the North’s asserted technology from 20 years ago, and is maintaining permanent operational readiness.”
The reported cruise missile trial follows a recent North Korean test of a cluster-bomb warhead intended for tactical ballistic missiles.
KCNA said that test assessed the warhead’s combat suitability and destructive power, claiming that a Type 2 cluster-bomb warhead could affect an area of 12 to 13 hectares at maximum density.
North Korea has said it intends to field different types of cluster warheads by the end of the year.
Citing experts, The Korea Times reported that a vertical-strike capability could be intended to improve North Korea’s ability to target underground South Korean facilities and tunnel entrances, which may be more difficult to strike on a horizontal or diagonal trajectory.
Separately, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected several missiles launched from the Sondok area on North Korea’s east coast towards the Sea of Japan on 4 November, according to Al Jazeera. The news outlet reported that this was Pyongyang’s fourth weapons launch in a month.
