North Korea has tested a “super-large warhead” designed for a strategic cruise missile, state media said yesterday, the most recent test since UN sanctions monitoring against the nuclear-armed nation was upended by Russia.
Russia last month used its UN Security Council veto to effectively end UN monitoring of violations of the raft of sanctions on Kim Jong-un’s administration for its nuclear and weapons program.
Analysts have said that North Korea could be testing cruise missiles ahead of sending them to Russia for use in Ukraine, with Washington and Seoul claiming Kim has shipped weapons to Moscow, despite UN sanctions banning any such moves.
Photo: KCNA via KNS / AFP
“The DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] Missile Administration has conducted a power test of a super-large warhead designed for ‘Hwasal-1 Ra-3’ strategic cruise missile,” Korean Central News Agency said.
North Korea also carried out a test launch of a “’Pyoljji-1-2’ new-type anti-aircraft missile in the West Sea of Korea,” it said, adding that both tests were carried out on Friday afternoon.
Seoul’s military yesterday said it detected “several cruise missiles and surface-to-air missiles” fired toward the same body of water, also known as the Yellow Sea, at about 3:30pm on Friday.
It added that it was “closely watching” North Korean military activity, and if Pyongyang “commits a provocation, we will punish it overwhelmingly and resolutely.”
Ahn Chan-il, a defector-turned-researcher who is president of the World Institute for North Korea Studies, said that the test appeared to involve “a new type of solid fuel, and it seems to be part of the production of exports in response to Russian demand.”
Pyongyang said the tests were “part of the regular activities” of the country’s missile administration and had “nothing to do with the surrounding situation.”
A “certain goal was attained” through the tests, it added, without giving further details.
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