North Korea said it verified the power of a scattering warhead, or cluster warhead, on a strategic cruise missile, the Korean Central News Agency reported on the 3rd, just two days after a ballistic missile test. The Kyunghyang Shinmun read it as a reaction to South Korea–US joint drills and an effort to raise pressure on Seoul amid inter-Korean tension.
Citing the KCNA, the Kyunghyang Shinmun reported that North Korea’s Missile Administration on the 2nd tested the scattering warhead’s power and vertical-strike capability on a strategic cruise missile. On October 31 it had tested a tactical ballistic missile fitted with a cluster warhead; this time the same type of warhead was fired on a cruise missile.
광고 문의 · 300×250Pyongyang claimed the Missile Administration’s warhead institute’s medium-sized scattering warhead can devastate a target area of 5 to 6 hectares, about seven to eight soccer fields. For the October 31 test it claimed 12 to 13 hectares. These figures are North Korea’s own claims and have not been independently verified.
What ‘vertical strike’ is aimed at
The Missile Administration said it improved the cruise missile’s terminal maneuvering and completed its vertical-strike capability. The Kyunghyang Shinmun read this as an evasive-maneuver capability that could reach targets behind ridgelines in the Korean Peninsula’s mountainous terrain. Published photos showed missiles striking almost vertically at targets that appear modeled on South Korean artillery positions and ammunition depots.
Hong Min, senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification, assessed that even without nuclear weapons, strategic sites such as airfields and ports could be paralyzed for hours to days. He also said warhead types are hard to tell apart in flight, which could muddle South Korean and US interception priorities. Shin Jong-woo, secretary-general of the Korea Defense and Security Forum, read the aim as evading defenses with multiple means such as ballistic missiles and rocket launchers to suppress wide areas.
Context: South Korea–US ties and tension
The Kyunghyang Shinmun analyzed the test as a reaction to South Korea–US joint drills and an attempt to press Seoul harder amid tension heightened by a landmine explosion in the DMZ on the western front. Kim Jong-sik, first vice department director of the Workers’ Party munitions industry department, criticized drills such as the allies’ Iron Mace and vowed to ‘accelerate the strengthening of nuclear war deterrence.’
It is also notable that leader Kim Jong-un did not attend the test; the article saw this as calibrating the level to limit external fallout. Official assessments or responses from the South Korean military or the United States do not appear in the reports we checked, and this remains unconfirmed.
Concrete analysis of how strain in South Korea–US relations bears on this test, or how it will affect North Korea policy, likewise stays at the level of expert remarks as far as we could confirm. It is also worth noting that cluster munitions, which scatter submunitions over wide areas and cause heavy harm to people and facilities, are highly controversial internationally.
