SEOUL, North Korea said Saturday it conducted what it calls a “cruise missile super-large warhead power test” and test-fired a new type of anti-aircraft missile the previous day. The tests in the Yellow Sea were carried out for the “rapid development of the technologies in various aspects, such as function, performance and operation of new-type weapon systems” and were part of “normal activities,” the North’s Missile Administration said in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). It did not give further details, such as how many missiles were launched or how far they flew. Photos released by the KCNA showed a cruise missile flying at a low altitude, striking a building and exploding. The South Korean military said Friday it detected the launch of several cruise missiles at around 11 a.m. from North Korea’s west coast. Hong Min, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said the large warhead test may be intended to show that a nuclear warhead could be fitted on the missile. Meanwhile, Lee Sang-kyu, an active-duty officer at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, said Pyongyang would have mentioned nuclear capabilities if the missile was designed to carry a nuclear warhead. He concluded the North likely tested a conventional cruise missile. On the new anti-aircraft missile, Hong suggested the weapon could possibly be an improved version of the previously tested Pongae-5 and Pongae-6 missiles. “Those are each copied from Russia’s S-300 and S-400 missiles,” Hong said. “Considering (the new anti-aircraft missile) was unveiled amid the recent cooperative mood between North Korea and Russia, we need to closely monitor it.” It marked the North’s fourth round of cruise missile launches this year, and the first anti-aircraft missile test since September 2021. On Jan. 24, North Korea test-fired a new strategic cruise missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, named Pulhwasal-3-31, for the first time. The country also fired submarine-launched cruise missiles off the east coast Sunday, later saying that they were also Pulhwasal-3-31s. On Tuesday, it fired what it later claimed to be the Hwasal-2 strategic cruise missile off its west coast but did not specify how many missiles it fired. Cruise missiles, powered by jet engines, fly low and are maneuverable, making them harder to detect and intercept.
Hwasal means an “arrow” in Korean, and Pulhwasal means a “fire arrow.”
Source: Yonhap News Agency