North Korea tests cluster warhead for tactical ballistic missiles, plans full arsenal by year-end

A cluster warhead for tactical missiles

North Korea said on Sunday, 1 November, that its defence research institutes had tested a cluster-munition warhead designed for tactical ballistic missiles. KCNA, the state news agency, dated the test to Saturday, 31 October, and said it was meant to evaluate how well the warhead could be adapted for combat and how powerful it is. The agency credited General Kim Jong Sik with supervising the test. According to KCNA, a standard type 2 warhead can devastate a target zone of 12 to 13 hectares when used at its highest density. Cluster munitions open in flight and scatter dozens or hundreds of small submunitions over a wide area, which is the mechanism the test was meant to assess.

Low end of claimed range12

High end of claimed range13

Low end of claimed range

12 hectares

High end of claimed range

13 hectares

Data from the article text

Four warhead types and a year-end deadline

KCNA said the Missile Administration has sorted cluster warheads into four categories, covering special-purpose and standard types. Its director general said that during this year units will be able to select and use all of them according to operational objectives and the characteristics of the targets. Photographs released by the agency show a launch from a mobile launcher and several impact points on an island. Kim Jong Un did not attend this test, although he had accompanied a similar cluster-warhead test in April.

Missile launches and border tension

On Thursday, 29 October, North Korea fired a group of short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea, with reports putting the number between about ten and a dozen. The launches came as tensions rose along the heavily fortified border. In September an explosion there wounded three South Korean soldiers. Seoul believes North Korean landmines caused the blast and says Pyongyang placed the explosives on the southern side of the Military Demarcation Line, and it sent a letter of complaint to the UN Security Council last week. Pyongyang denies any involvement and has accused Seoul at the Security Council of distorting the circumstances in order to obstruct its border fortification work.

Diplomatic backdrop

On Friday, 30 October, the United States, South Korea and Japan reaffirmed their demand for North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons programme in a complete denuclearization. Donald Trump met Kim Jong Un three times during his first term and said in August that he wants to meet him again this year. Hopes for a denuclearization agreement have not been fulfilled. North Korea remains under broad international sanctions over its nuclear and missile programmes, and it is reported to possess up to 120 nuclear weapons. It also gained experience of modern warfare by sending troops to support Russia in the war in Ukraine.