North Korea brags of new missile with ‘super-large warhead.’ Outsiders doubt the North’s claim

Seoul, South Korea. North Korea said Tuesday it had tested a new tactical ballistic missile capable of carrying “a super-large warhead,” a claim quickly disputed by speculating South Korean officials and experts. the North He probably invented a successful test to hide a failed launch.

It is the second time South Korea has questioned North Korea’s claim to develop new weapons in recent days, as the rivals are locked in animosities heightened by the North’s testing activities.

The North’s official Korean Central News Agency said Monday’s test involved the Hwasongpho-11 Da-4.5 missile, which can carry a 4.5-ton warhead. He said the test was intended to verify the weapon’s flight stability and impact accuracy at a maximum range of 500 kilometers (310 miles) and a minimum range of 90 kilometers (55 miles).

The test apparently refers to the two ballistic missile launches that South Korea said North Korea acted on Monday.

Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesman Lee Sung Joon said in a briefing later Tuesday that the second North Korean missile was found to have landed in an uninhabited area near Pyongyang, the North’s capital. He said he could find few previous North Korean test launches that have targeted ground targets.

“With respect to North Korea’s assessment, we are weighing the possibility of deception,” Lee said.

The South Korean military has said the second North Korean missile possibly moved abnormally during the initial stage of its flight. He said that if the missile had exploded, its remains would likely have been scattered on the ground.

The KCNA dispatch did not say where the new missile was launched from or where it landed. Unlike previous weapons tests, North Korea also did not release any photos of Monday’s test. The fact that it tested both the maximum and minimum range of the missile suggested that North Korea conducted two launches.

KCNA, citing the North Korean Missile Administration, reported that North Korea will test the missile again in late July to verify the performance of its simulated warhead at a medium range of 250 kilometers (155 miles).

Some experts say the missile test launches against ground targets could be related to efforts to test how powerful the warheads are in destroying underground structures and bunkers.

But Shin Jongwoo, a Seoul-based military expert, said the fact that North Korea has not released any photographs of the launches means it is very likely that the North is trying to deceive outsiders to cover up the failed launches of the Monday. He said North Korea likely launched an existing missile on Monday, not the new missile he claimed.

Yang Uk, an analyst at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, said Monday’s tests reflected North Korea’s push to acquire a variety of conventional weapons. But he also said that if North Korea had really managed to hit a ground target, it probably would have already released related images to boast about its achievements as it did in the past.

Since 2022, North Korea has dramatically accelerated weapons testing activities to expand its arsenal of nuclear-capable weapons designed to strike key sites in the continental United States, South Korea and Japan. The ranges of the recently tested missile, claimed by North Korea, imply that it is aimed at South Korea. Experts say North Korea would ultimately want to use an expanded nuclear arsenal to increase its influence in future diplomacy with the United States.

Monday’s missile test came a day after North Korea promised “offensive and overwhelming” responses to a New US military exercise with South Korea and Japan. Five days before that test, on June 26, North Korea launched what it called a new missile with multiple warheads in the first known test of a weapon under development aimed at penetrating the anti-missile defenses of its rivals. North Korea said the launch was successful, but South Korea dismissed the North’s claim as a hoax to cover up a failed launch.