North Korea claims to have successfully tested a new tactical ballistic missile capable of carrying a huge warhead. The new Hwasongpho-11Da-4.5 model, as reported by the North Korean agency KCNA, “carried a simulated 4.5-ton first-class warhead”. However, South Korea denies the news and claims that Pyongyang’s claims are just “lies”. In fact, according to the South Korean military, the test would have failed in its very first stage, exploding over the skies of North Korea itself.
Seoul: “It’s false that the launch was successful”
Seoul says the launch was not really as successful as Pyongyang claims. “It is extremely rare for test launches to be carried out inland, and the claim that they have successfully conducted such a launch is probably false,” Defense Ministry spokesman Lee Sung-jun told reporters. Although KCNA said the missile tested was a “very large warhead,” the agency did not mention the word “nuclear,” Hong Min, a senior analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul, noted. “But since it can carry a nuclear warhead, it can be considered a nuclear weapon.” In any case, the assumption is that North Korea will conduct a new test this month “to check the flight characteristics, impact accuracy and explosive power of the warhead at an average distance of 250 kilometers.”
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Exercises resume near border with North Korea
Meanwhile, South Korea has resumed artillery exercises near its land border with the North “for the first time in six years,” as part of increased activities along the demilitarized zone (DMZ) after the suspension of the 2018 military pact signed with Pyongyang. Seoul’s army troops, with the “aim of improving response capabilities and firepower readiness in the event of enemy provocations,” fired about 140 rounds from K9 and K105A1 self-propelled howitzers at ranges in Gyeonggi and Gangwon provinces, within 5 kilometers of the military demarcation line in the DMZ that separates the two Koreas.
