North Korea tests a cluster warhead for tactical ballistic missiles, claiming it can reduce 12 to 13 hectares to ashes

North Korea tested a cluster warhead designed for tactical ballistic missiles on Saturday, October 31. The test, announced on Sunday by Pyongyang’s state media, was carried out by the country’s Missile Command in order to assess the warhead’s power and its adaptation to combat conditions.

“Ashes” over 12 to 13 hectares

According to the state news agency KCNA, the Missile Command’s research institutes, the Ballistic Missile Systems Institute and the Warhead Institute, confirmed that the standard “Type 2” cluster warhead can, at maximum density, reduce an area of 12 to 13 hectares to ashes. Such a warhead releases dozens to hundreds of submunitions and hits many targets over a large area.

The Missile Command’s director general said cluster warheads are divided into four categories according to their mission. “Within the year we will give units the ability to choose and use all these types according to operational purposes and the characteristics of the targets,” he said.

Seoul’s reaction

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it monitored the launch and that the missile was fired toward the Yellow Sea from the Cheongju area in north-western North Korea. “Through close information sharing between South Korea and the US, we monitored the related activity before the launch and maintained our readiness,” it said on Sunday. The South Korean military usually announces North Korean ballistic launches soon after they take place.

Shin Jong-woo, secretary general of the Korea Defense and Security Forum in Seoul, assessed that the missile was most probably the Hwasong-11 Ra. In April Pyongyang announced a cluster-bomb test on the tactical Hwasong-11 Ra ballistic missile, overseen by Kim Jong Un and his daughter, Ju Ae. The new test came two days after the salvo of about ten ballistic missiles on October 29, and while the foreign ministers of South Korea, the United States and Japan again called in Atlanta for North Korea’s complete denuclearisation.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also said on Saturday that Donald Trump remains open to talks with Kim, provided Pyongyang agrees to discuss the issues that concern Washington and its allies, though no meeting has been scheduled. A few days earlier Kim had inspected his country’s new drones.