(Seoul) North Korea said Thursday that leader Kim Jong-un oversaw successful tests of two types of missiles — one designed to carry a “super-large conventional warhead” and the other capable of carrying a nuclear warhead — as he ordered officials to boost his country’s military capabilities to repel U.S.-led threats.
The tests were apparent references to multiple missile launches that North Korea carried out off its east coast on Wednesday, according to neighboring countries, continuing its series of weapons demonstrations as confrontations with the United States and South Korea intensify.
The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim Jong-un supervised the launch of the country’s newly built Hwasongpho-11-Da-4.5 ballistic missile, which is equipped with a “4.5-ton super-large conventional warhead.” The test-firing was intended to verify the weapon’s ability to accurately hit a target with a range of 320 kilometers, suggesting it is a weapon intended to strike sites in South Korea, according to KCNA.
The KCNA said the North Korean leader also guided the launch of an upgraded “strategic” cruise missile, a word implying that the weapons were developed to carry nuclear warheads.
The news agency quoted Kim Jong-un as stressing the need to continue to “strengthen nuclear strength” and acquire “an overwhelming offensive capability in the field of conventional weapons as well.”
“Only by having strong power can we contain and counteract the enemy’s strategic misjudgments and willingness to use armed forces,” Kim Jong-un said, according to KCNA.
North Korea has pushed to introduce a variety of sophisticated weapons systems designed to attack both South Korea and the U.S. mainland to counter what it calls growing security threats from its rivals. Many foreign experts say North Korea ultimately wants to use its expanded arsenal as leverage to extract greater concessions in its future relations with the United States.
Concerns about North Korea intensified last week after photos emerged of a secret facility built to enrich uranium for nuclear bombs. Since May, North Korea has also floated thousands of balloons carrying waste toward South Korea, prompting the South to resume anti-North broadcasts from loudspeakers in border areas.