DPRK conducted cluster warhead tests for ballistic missiles from the 6th to 8th: KCNA

[Financial News] The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) carried out a three-day test from the 6th to the 8th, launching a Hwasong-11Ga short-range ballistic missile (SRBM), also known as the KN-23 short-range ballistic missile, equipped with a cluster warhead.
On the 9th, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that the Academy of Defence Sciences and the Missile General Bureau had conducted a series of "tests of important weapons systems." According to the report, the Ballistic Missile Systems Research Institute of the Missile Administration and the Warhead Research Institute carried out tests to evaluate the combat applicability of a tactical ballistic missile (TBM) dispersion warhead and the destructive power of its submunitions.
KCNA claimed that the tests confirmed the Hwasong-11A ground-to-ground tactical ballistic missile, fitted with a dispersion warhead, could devastate a target area of 6.5 to 7 hectares with extremely high density.
The report also noted that the Anti-Aircraft Weapons Systems Research Bureau of the Missile General Bureau conducted tests to verify the combat reliability of a mobile short-range anti-aircraft missile complex.
In addition, the DPRK disclosed that it had carried out tests of an electromagnetic weapons system and dispersal tests using a carbon-fiber dummy munition. The weapons tests conducted on the 6th were not detected externally, raising the possibility that experiments with the electromagnetic weapons system and related activities took place that day. The report did not mention any attendance by Kim Jong Un, President of the State Affairs Commission, at the tests.


rainman@fnnews.com Kim Kyung-soo Reporter