North Korea reportedly tested a cluster-bomb warhead designed to be mounted on tactical ballistic missiles on Saturday to “assess adaptation to combat and power of a cluster-bomb warhead to be tipped on tactical ballistic missiles."
The test comes after the nuclear state trialled a range of weaponry including attack drones, a new precision-guided torpedo system and an intermediate-range hypersonic missile. Tensions between North and South Korea have been peaking in recent weeks following a landmine explosion along the heavily fortified border between the two Koreas.
Cluster-bomb warhead test
A cluster bomb typically releases dozens to hundreds of smaller explosive submunitions, allowing it to strike multiple targets across a wide area. This makes the bomb “capable of turning into ashes a target area of 12 to 13 hectares with its highest-density power”, the research institutes under the Missile Administration confirmed to KCNA.
As per the general director of the Missile Administration, cluster-bomb warheads are classified into four categories based on their intended purposes. "Within this year we will enable units to select and use all those types according to operational aims and specific features of targets," the director told KCNA.
North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un was not present for the missile test on Saturday but had overseen a test-launch of cluster-bomb warheads mounted on a ballistic missile in April, accompanied by his daughter Ju Ae.
Tensions between North Korea, South Korea
{{/usCountry}}North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un was not present for the missile test on Saturday but had overseen a test-launch of cluster-bomb warheads mounted on a ballistic missile in April, accompanied by his daughter Ju Ae.
Tensions between North Korea, South Korea
{{/usCountry}}The missile launch, which was fired towards the Yellow Sea from an area near the northwestern county of Chongju, is being closely monitored by the South Korean military as tensions between the two countries remain high.
"Under close information sharing between South Korea and the United States, (we) tracked relevant activities before North Korea's missile launch and maintained a readiness posture," South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Sunday, a day after the test, as reported by the Yonhap News Agency.
The missile test comes amid fresh calls by top diplomats of South Korea, the United States, and Japan during trilateral talks held in Atlanta for the complete denuclearisation of North Korea.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also said in an address on Saturday that President Donald Trump remained open to talks with Pyongyang if Kim Jong-Un was willing to discuss issues of concern to Washington and its allies. No official meeting has been scheduled between President Trump and Kim Jong-Un, however, as per Yonhap News Agency.
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The recent border moves by North Korea are largely being seen as a part of broader efforts to modernise its military. In a letter addressed to the United Nations security council last week, North Korea's representative to the UN accused the South of using the September landmine incident to portray its border construction work as a military incursion.
The letter further warned that any violation of North Korea's sovereignty could prompt self-defence measures and that South Korea would be "wholly accountable for all the ensuing consequences."