North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has supervised the successful test of two types of tactical ballistic missiles, including one with an “extra-large conventional warhead” and an “advanced” cruise missile, North Korea’s state media reported.
The test was in response to a “serious threat” posed by outside forces to North Korea’s security, the state-run KCNA news agency reported on Thursday, quoting Kim as saying.
The new missile, dubbed Hwasongpho-11-Da-4.5, was equipped with an extra-large conventional warhead weighing 4.5 tonnes in a test firing conducted by the North Korean Missile Command on Wednesday, according to the KCNA. The KCNA also said:
“The test launch was aimed at checking the accuracy of hitting at an average range of 320 kilometres and the explosion power of an extra-large warhead on a missile equipped with such a warhead.”
Kim emphasised that “it is necessary to further strengthen nuclear forces and have the most powerful military-technical capability and overwhelming offensive capability in the field of conventional weapons as well.”
Photos released by KCNA show Kim observing the latest test, as well as a missile striking a ground target. South Korea’s military said later on Thursday that it believed ballistic and cruise missiles fired by North Korea the previous day had landed in the country’s mountainous northeastern region.
The ultra-large warhead is among a list of high-tech weapons Kim has promised to develop at a party congress in 2021, including a military spy satellite and solid-fuelled intercontinental ballistic missiles.
In June, North Korea said it had successfully test-fired a missile with multiple warheads, but South Korea’s military at the time called it a “hoax”, saying the launch ended in failure as the missile exploded in mid-air.
North Korea usually conducts missile tests off its east coast and the missiles fall into the sea.
