North Korea is claiming success in conducting a separation and guidance control test of its multiple warheads on the 27th which is coming after a contrasting analysis of the ballistic missile launched the previous day. However, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff deemed it a failure although North Korea claimed a victorious first test of multiple warheads.
Rodong Sinmun released a video through the Korean Central News Agency and shared that the missile launched on the 26th was intended for the separation and guidance control test of individual mobile warheads.
Specifically, they used a solid fuel medium-range ballistic missile first-stage engine and asserted to have guided the separated warheads to three target coordinates, adding that the test included a decoy or a fake warhead.
Publicly disclosing a multiple warhead missile test is the first time for North Korea. A multiple warhead missile must possess miniaturized warheads, re-entry into the atmosphere, precision, and a high-powered engine. North Korea appears to have revealed the multiple-warhead test to boast of possessing such advanced technology.
On the other hand, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff assessed that North Korea conducted a test launch of a ballistic missile, presumed to be a solid-fuel propelled medium-range ballistic missile (IRBM) and that the normal flight failed. North Korea has directly contradicted the South Korean military’s analysis by claiming a successful multiple warhead test.
However, experts point out that it is difficult to verify as the released video only suggests that the multiple-warhead separation occurred within the atmosphere, and it’s unclear whether the warheads separated sequentially to hit the target.
The multiple warhead missile is one of the five major defense tasks that North Korea has identified, along with intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), hypersonic missiles, military reconnaissance satellites, and nuclear submarines. The public revelation of this multiple warhead test suggests that North Korea’s nuclear and missile enhancement is proceeding as planned. It’s also being interpreted as a backlash against the participation of the U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt in the first multi-domain military exercise Freedom Edge with South Korea and Japan.
