North Korea tests cluster-bomb warhead for ballistic missiles

North Korea tested a cluster-bomb warhead for its tactical ballistic missiles on Oct. 31 and said it will let its military units choose from four types of cluster warheads by the end of the year, state news agency KCNA reported on Nov. 1.

The Missile Administration, which runs North Korea’s missile development, said the test assessed the warhead’s combat readiness and destructive power. Its Ballistic Missile System Institute and Warhead Institute said they confirmed that the “Standard Type 2” cluster warhead can destroy a target area of 12 to 13 hectares, about 30 to 32 acres. Kim Jong Sik, a member of the ruling Workers’ Party’s Central Military Commission and first vice director of a Central Committee department, oversaw the test. Leader Kim Jong Un was not reported to have attended.

KCNA did not name the missile or give its range, altitude or launch site. The missile was fired at an uninhabited island target in the West Sea, also known as the Yellow Sea, South Korea’s JKN reported, and analysts said it appears to be the first time North Korea has fired a cluster-armed missile from a wheeled mobile launcher.

“We classify the cluster-bomb warheads into four categories according to special and standard purposes. Within this year we will enable units to select and use all those types according to operational aims and specific features of targets,” said the general director of the DPRK Missile Administration.

A cluster warhead opens in the air and scatters dozens or hundreds of small bomblets over a wide area, making it effective against troops, vehicles, artillery positions and airfields rather than a single hardened target. Neither North Korea nor South Korea has joined the international convention banning cluster munitions.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff did not announce the launch on the day it happened, a break from its usual practice of reporting North Korean ballistic missile launches in real time. The military said on Nov. 1 that it had tracked related activity before the launch in close information sharing with the United States and maintained a readiness posture. Because the missile flew a short range at low altitude, the military wanted to complete its analysis before confirming it was a ballistic missile, Financial News reported.

North Korea has tested cluster warheads on its tactical missiles before. In April, it tested a Hwasong-11A short-range ballistic missile with a cluster warhead alongside other new weapons, and later that month Kim Jong Un watched the launch of Hwasong-11 Ra missiles fitted with cluster bomb and fragmentation mine warheads, which state media also claimed could devastate an area of about 13 hectares.

The test came two days after North Korea fired around 10 short-range ballistic missiles from the Wonsan area during a firepower demonstration tied to a drone exhibition, where Kim called for “absolute superiority” in drone technology. The Missile Administration described the Oct. 31 launch as part of regular research work to improve the power of its weapon systems.