North Korea conducted a test launching a short-range ballistic missile, the "Hwasong-11Ga" (KN-23), fitted with a cluster warhead.
The Korean Central News Agency reported on the 9th that from the 6th to the 8th, the Academy of National Defense Science and the Missile General Bureau carried out "tests of important weapons systems."
The Korean Central News Agency said, "The ballistic missile systems research institute of the Missile General Bureau and the warhead research institute conducted a test to assess the combat applicability of a tactical ballistic missile dispersion warhead and the lethality of the submunitions."
The dispersion warhead reported by the Korean Central News Agency refers to a cluster munition. A cluster warhead contains a large number of submunitions inside, and when it explodes, the submunitions spread over a wide area. It is known to be powerful enough that a single round can devastate an area the size of three to four soccer fields.
According to the Korean Central News Agency, the attack area confirmed in this test reached 6.5–7 hectares. That is similar to the area of 10 soccer fields.
According to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), North Korea actually launched short-range ballistic missiles the previous day from the Wonsan area. Around 8:50 a.m., it fired several short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea, followed by another ballistic missile launch into the East Sea at 2:20 p.m.
The ballistic missile launched in the morning flew about 240 kilometers to the northeast and fell into the sea near Alseom. The missile fired in the afternoon flew more than 700 kilometers to the northeast and fell in international waters south of Russia and west of Japan.
North Korea also conducted a cluster munition test in 2022. At the time, it appears the test was carried out as a show of force in response to the South Korea-U.S. combined air exercise "Vigilant Storm."
In addition to cluster munitions, North Korea conducted air-defense weapons tests. North Korea also said that the Anti-Air (air-defense) Weapons Systems Research Bureau of the Missile General Bureau conducted a test to verify a "mobile short-range anti-air missile complex." Electronic weapons systems tests and the dispersal of carbon-fiber mock munitions were also carried out together.
Kim Jeong-sik, first vice director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Labor Party, who supervised the tests, said, "Electromagnetic weapons and carbon-fiber munitions are special assets of a strategic nature that will be combined with and applied to different military means across various domains."