North Korea has successfully tested a new ballistic missile capable of carrying a “super-large conventional warhead,” Pyongyang’s state media reported on Thursday.
The state-run KCNA news agency quoted the country’s Missile Administration as saying the test firing, held on Wednesday, went ahead as planned. It added that ruler Kim Jong Un oversaw the launch.
“The new tactical ballistic missile was equipped with a conventional super-large warhead weighing 4.5 tons,” KCNA reported.
The test aimed to “test the accuracy of the hit at an average distance of 320 km and the explosive power of the super-large warhead with a missile loaded with such a warhead,” the agency said.
According to Pyongyang, the same type of missile was tested in July.
On Wednesday, the South Korean military said North Korea had fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles.
The missiles, fired from northern Pyongyang, flew about 400 kilometers (250 miles), South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said, citing the Seoul General Staff (JCS).
Under UN resolutions, North Korea is prohibited from launching or even testing ballistic missiles of any range.
These are usually surface-to-surface missiles that can also be equipped with a nuclear warhead.
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have risen after Pyongyang significantly expanded its missile tests over the past two years while sharpening its rhetoric against the US and South Korea. It has also strengthened its military cooperation with Russia.
