North Korea claimed Thursday to have successfully launched a multi-warhead missile, according to the North Korean state agency KCNA, as South Korea, the United States and Japan launched new maneuvers on Thursday joint military.
Dozens of other balloons sent by Pyongyang also landed in South Korea, while the 2018 agreement aimed at reducing tensions between the South and North has just been suspended.
The North Korean regime “successfully conducted a test of separation and control of individual mobile warheads on June 26,” the KCNA agency said, specifying that “the separate warheads hit three coordinated targets.”
The launch, according to KCNA, was aimed at testing the MIRV (“Multiple Independently Targetable Reentry Vehicle Technology”) capability, i.e. the ability to fire several independent warheads using a single ballistic missile.
The South Korean military announced Wednesday that North Korea had test-fired what appeared to be a hypersonic missile, but the projectile exploded in flight after traveling about 250 km above the Japanese sea.
According to the South Korean General Staff, it could be a solid propellant-powered missile, which would have encountered combustion problems because it was emitting more smoke than usual.
According to KCNA, the test “was carried out using the first stage engine of an intermediate-range solid-fuel ballistic missile with a radius of 170 to 200 km.”
“The effectiveness of a separate missile decoy was also verified by anti-aircraft radar,” the agency said.
Northern Technological Advances
Opposite, Seoul announced the start of new major maneuvers with its allied Japanese and American armies.
Participating is the American nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, which South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol visited after his arrival in South Korea on Saturday.
The day before, South Korea and the United States had already organized joint air exercises involving 30 aircraft, including the F-22 Raptor, an American stealth fighter plane.
The three countries have recently increased the frequency of joint maneuvers to underline the American presence in the region, while North Korea has just declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear military power.
Mastering multi-warhead missile technology is an ultimate goal for nations seeking to acquire intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) capable of carrying nuclear warheads, said Hong Min, a senior researcher at the Korea Unification Institute. national.
It appears the North is “testing this technology step by step in the long term”, he told AFP. “They appear to be making technological progress in the early stages of developing multiple-warhead missiles. »
Seoul has repeatedly accused Pyongyang of supplying missiles and munitions to Moscow as part of the war in Ukraine.
Following the cooperation agreement signed last week by Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un, South Korea announced it was “reconsidering” a long-standing policy that prohibits it from selling arms to countries involved in a conflict. active, to be able to help Ukraine.
Seoul announced Thursday it would impose unilateral sanctions on four Russian ships and eight North Koreans suspected of helping transfer oil and weapons between North Korea and Russia.
In addition to its missile tests, North Korea has recently innovated its methods to annoy its southern neighbor, sending hundreds of balloons loaded with garbage and animal excrement across the border, response to a propaganda campaign by South Korean activists.
Three days in a row, Pyongyang launched garbage balloons towards the South. According to the South Korean military, about 70 balloons landed Thursday morning, mainly in the northern province of Gyeonggi and the Seoul area. They forced the Incheon airport serving Seoul to briefly close.
“The payload is around 10 kilograms, so there is a risk if the balloons descend quickly,” the army said, saying it was ready to react.
South Korea’s marines resumed live-fire exercises on islands near the border between the two countries on Wednesday, the first such exercises since.
Pyongyang has been the subject of a series of United Nations sanctions since its second nuclear test in 2009, but continues to develop its nuclear and weapons programs.