Janice R. Andrews
North Korean official media revealed a noteworthy advancement in the nation’s military might on Thursday. North Korea’s top missile experts have successfully confirmed a new multi-warhead delivery system, according to a report from the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). The multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) capability that is part of this improvement presents a serious threat to Ally and American defense plans against Kim Jong Un’s government.
Leading figures in the Workers’ Party of North Korea oversaw the “separation and guidance control test of individual mobile warheads,” which was a component of an evaluation meant to guarantee the country’s MIRV capacity. Multiple nuclear-armed, hypersonic warheads may be released at different speeds by a single intercontinental ballistic missile (MIRV), which was first developed by the United States. This enables the weapon to defeat air defense systems by delivering its payload to several ground targets.
Three images that KCNA provided allegedly showed many warheads and a decoy breaking away from an intermediate-range ballistic missile. Japan and South Korea concluded that the missile was fired from close to Pyongyang. “The separated mobile warheads were guided correctly to the three coordinate targets,” the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) declared after the regime’s first test fire in a month. The Workers’ Party declared obtaining MIRV capabilities to be “a top priority”.
The South Korean military, meanwhile, has rejected North Korea’s assertion that the test was successful. The Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesperson for South Korea, Lee Sung Joon, said that the North’s missile burst soon after takeoff, releasing debris into the eastern oceans separating the two Koreas. Contrary to North Korea’s claims of a successful separation and guidance test, MIRVs usually unleash their warheads during descent.
According to NK News researcher Colin Zwirko, the test most likely took place east of Kim Jong Un’s home in Pyongyang, which is also the site of North Korea’s missile volley from multiple launch rocket systems on April 22. Zwirko pointed out that doubts over the veracity of the test were aroused by Kim Jong Un’s absence from the event and KCNA’s refusal to release images of the warheads hitting their targets.
If verified, this would be the first known MIRV test from North Korea and a major step toward Kim Jong Un’s ambitious 2021 wish list of advanced weapons. Submarine-launched nuclear missiles, solid-fuel ICBMs, and spy satellites are all on this list. Such developments would go against resolutions passed by the UN Security Council that forbid North Korea from developing missile technology.
The world community has responded quickly, if a little subdued. Numerous attempts for comment were not answered by the North Korean embassy in Beijing. In a similar vein, no word on the current test has yet been released by the US Defense Department.
The advancement of MIRV technology fits into a larger global trend in which governments possessing nuclear weapons are vying with one another to create hypersonic strategic technologies that can avoid detection. India successfully tested the Agni-5 MIRV missile in March. It can deliver multiple warheads up to 2,000 miles away, or roughly half of its operating range. The Agni-5 indicates a strategic emphasis on China’s military capabilities by placing the majority of the Chinese mainland within reach.
The start of three days of trilateral military maneuvers between the United States, South Korea, and Japan seems to have prompted North Korea to launch a missile test as a preventative measure. The multi-domain exercise, called Freedom Edge, is organized by the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, which is headquartered in Hawaii. Its stated purpose is to “promote trilateral interoperability and protect freedom for peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific, including the Korean Peninsula.” Cooperative ballistic missile defense, air defense, maritime interdiction, search and rescue, and defensive cyber training will be the main objectives of the exercise.
Furthermore, South Korea declared on Thursday that it will start up loudspeaker propaganda shows close to the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in the event that North Korea keeps bringing garbage-carrying balloons across the border. The Yonhap news agency in South Korea reports that late on Wednesday, for the third day in a row, over 180 garbage balloons from North Korea—some of which included sewage—landed on South Korean soil, raising the total since late May to nearly 2,000.
This most recent event highlights the growing tensions on the Korean Peninsula as well as the continuous difficulties in bringing about long-term peace and stability in the area. Under constant worldwide observation, the ramifications of North Korea’s purported missile technological breakthroughs continue to pose a serious threat to international security.
