North Korea claims successful test to develop multiple-warhead missile
- In Reports
- 11:17 AM, Jun 27, 2024
- Myind Staff
On Thursday, North Korea claimed it successfully conducted a test of a multiple warhead missile system as the state seeks to fulfill leader Kim Jong Un’s objective of acquiring technology that could enhance its capability to deliver a nuclear strike. South Korea quickly dismissed the claim as a deception to cover up a failed launch.
North Korea stated that the test was conducted on Wednesday using the first-stage, solid-fuel engine of an intermediate-range ballistic missile.
The launch tested the separation and guidance control of individual mobile warheads to verify the capability of the Multiple Independent Reentry Vehicle, as reported by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency. It stated that the separated mobile warheads were accurately guided to three designated targets, and a decoy that separated from the missile was confirmed by radar.
"The purpose was to secure the capability to destroy individual targets using multiple warheads," it said.
This announcement followed a report by South Korea's military, which stated that North Korea had launched what seemed to be a hypersonic missile off its east coast a day earlier, which exploded in midair.
"Today North Korea disclosed something, but we believe it's simply a means of deception and exaggeration," Lee Sung-joon, the spokesman for South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a briefing.
The photos released by the North purporting to be of Wednesday's test were also most likely fabricated or recycled pictures from a previous launch, he said.
It was North Korea's first publicly acknowledged launch related to the development of a multiwarhead missile, although experts outside the country view it as a preliminary test.
KCNA, citing the country's Missile Administration, said it was significant to bolstering North Korea's missile forces and developing missile technologies that testing of the weapon had entered a full-scale stage.
A multiwarhead missile was among the advanced weapons systems Kim mentioned on his agenda during a ruling party meeting in early 2021, including spy satellites, solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missiles, hypersonic weapons, and submarine-launched nuclear missiles. Since then, North Korea has conducted a series of tests aimed at developing these weapons systems.
South Korea, the United States, and Japan condemned the launch as a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions and a significant threat. They also cautioned against further provocations following the recent summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russia has had this technology for decades, and the test this week by North Korea increases worries the deepening military ties between the two countries could involve tech transfers to help Kim’s MIRV program.
Image source: Reuters
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