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North Korea says it tested a cruise-missile dispersal warhead
Yonhap, citing North Korean state media, reported Tuesday that Pyongyang tested a dispersal warhead on a strategic cruise missile a day after a cluster-bomb test for ballistic missiles.
North Korea said it tested a dispersal warhead on a strategic cruise missile on Monday, state media reported, according to Yonhap on Tuesday1.
The Korean Central News Agency said the Missile Administration ran the tests to measure the warhead's power and the missile's vertical-strike performance1. Yonhap quoted KCNA as saying a middle-sized dispersal warhead could turn 5 to 6 hectares to ash at highest density1.
KCNA also said the Cruise Missile System Institute improved the missile's terminal maneuverability for a vertical strike, Yonhap reported1. The agency's missile-administration director was quoted as saying a range of weapons was needed to deter threats and that the tests showed practical combat power1.
The report followed a Saturday test of a cluster-bomb warhead for tactical ballistic missiles, which Yonhap, citing KCNA on Nov. 1, said was meant to check combat use and power. KCNA claimed a Standard Type 2 cluster warhead could devastate 12 to 13 hectares, Yonhap reported, and quoted the missile-administration director as saying four types would be available to units this year.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said Sunday they had tracked the Saturday launch toward the Yellow Sea from near Chongju, in the northwest, and had shared information with the United States, Yonhap reported.
On the later cruise-missile claim, Yonhap cited Shin Jong-woo of the Korea Defense and Security Forum as saying a vertical strike could be aimed at underground facilities and tunnel mouths that are hard to hit on a flatter path1. Shin said raising speed before impact would increase destructive force, according to Yonhap1.
South Korea's military said Tuesday it is maintaining what it called an overwhelming capability and readiness to respond, Yonhap reported1. Joint Chiefs spokesperson Capt. Jang Do-young said Seoul has already developed precision-strike weapons it says outplay the North's asserted technology from 20 years ago and remains on operational readiness1.
Independent confirmation of the warhead's performance was not in the Yonhap accounts, which rest on KCNA and on South Korean military statements1.