– Pyongyang claims to have tested a new ballistic missile
The North Korean regime claims to have tested a new tactical ballistic missile capable of carrying a very large, potentially nuclear warhead.
Published today at 06:32
Relations between the two Koreas are currently at their lowest in several years.
AFP
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North Korea has tested a new tactical ballistic missile capable of carrying a very large warhead, the official news agency said Tuesday, with analysts saying it could be nuclear-capable.
Pyongyang on Monday launched a Hwasong-11Da-4.5 missile, capable of carrying a large warhead weighing 4.5 tons, the KCNA news agency said. “The test firing was conducted with a missile equipped with a simulated heavy warhead to check flight stability and firing accuracy at a maximum range of 500 kilometers and a minimum range of 90 kilometers,” the agency said.
South Korea’s military had previously described Monday’s tests as the firing of two short-range ballistic missiles, one of which failed early in flight.
Military maneuvers
The tests come after protests by Kim Jong-un’s regime against joint military exercises by Seoul, Tokyo and Washington last week. Pyongyang has denounced the alliance as an “Asian version of NATO” and warned of “fatal consequences.”
The North Korean leader pledged at a one-party congress in 2021 to develop several advanced weapons, including a super-large warhead, a military spy satellite and solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missiles.
The missile tested is a “super-large warhead,” according to KCNA, which does not mention the word “nuclear,” said Hong Min, a senior analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul. “But since it is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, it can be considered a nuclear weapon,” he told AFP.
Live fire exercises
Relations between the two Koreas are currently at their lowest point in several years. Pyongyang is increasing its weapons tests and sending balloons filled with waste to the South.
South Korea’s military said Tuesday it has resumed live-fire drills near the border with the North. South Korean troops conducted about 140 rounds of firing from K9 and K105A1 howitzers at firing ranges less than five kilometers from the demarcation line that runs through the middle of the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, it said.
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