North Korea Tested the ‘Devil’s Weapon’ Cluster Warhead on a Cruise Missile the Day Before; Target Obliterated

[Financial News] North Korea conducted a test on the 2nd in which it launched a strategic cruise missile carrying a cluster warhead, known as the ‘devil’s weapon.’ A cluster warhead contains multiple bomblets (submunitions) inside a single warhead, causing mass casualties. It is considered a weapon that maximizes lethality by exploding in midair and scattering bomblets in all directions.
Strategic cruise missiles also fly at extremely low altitudes, in radar blind spots, and can take detours and evasive action along complex routes without a predetermined trajectory, making them difficult for the South Korean military to detect. 
Earlier, on the 31st of last month, North Korea conducted a power assessment test of a cluster warhead designed for a tactical ballistic missile. In effect, it was showcasing its development of warheads to equip strategic cruise missiles with cluster warheads as well, following its work on tactical ballistic missiles.
KCNA reported on the 3rd that “the Missile General Bureau of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea conducted a power assessment test of a strategic cruise missile dispersal warhead and a test of its vertical-strike flight characteristics on November 2.” The agency did not say whether North Korean State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong Un attended the test. 
The Warhead Research Institute under the Missile General Bureau announced the test results, saying, “We confirmed that a medium-sized dispersal warhead mounted on a cruise missile can completely devastate a target area of 5–6 jeongbo (one jeongbo is about 9,917 square meters, or roughly 1 hectare) at an extremely high density.” A dispersal warhead refers to a cluster warhead. 
The Missile General Bureau’s Cruise Missile Systems Research Institute claimed, “By improving the terminal maneuvering characteristics of cruise missiles in consideration of the natural and geographic features of the area where the weapons system is deployed, we have completed the capability to strike targets vertically.” As with the earlier test of a cluster warhead for a ballistic missile, North Korea did not disclose the test of the cluster warhead for a cruise missile in domestic media seen by its residents, including the WPK’s official newspaper Rodong Sinmun. 
[email protected] Kim Kyung-soo Reporter