North Korea Successfully Tests Ballistic Missiles Capable Of Carrying A 4.5 Ton Super Large Leak

UNSPLASH/Mihail Tregubov ILLUSTRATION

JAKARTA - North Korea has successfully tested a new tactical ballistic missile capable of carrying a super large warhead weighing 4.5 tons, state news agency KCNA reported.

A day earlier, South Korea reported the launch of two ballistic missiles by North Korea and said the second missile most likely failed immediately after launch and exploded while flying over land.

The KCNA report did not explain whether the two missiles were launched and referred to the projectile in single terms.

The test of a new tactical ballistic missile called Hwasongpho-11 Da-4.5, was carried out by means of a simulation of a heavy warhead to verify the stability and accuracy of the flight.

The statement did not elaborate on the nature of the simulated warheads.

North Korea's report on the missile test was deemed "fraud" because one of the two missiles flew abnormally and appeared to appear in the field not far from Pyongyang, Seoul's spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Colonel Lee Sung-jun said.

The South Korean military conducted artillery exercises at a distance of five km (three miles) from the Military Demarcation Line inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) which separates the two Koreas on Tuesday morning, an Army official told the briefing.

The resumption of shooting drills near the border follows a suspension of a military pact signed with Pyongyang after North Korea launched hundreds of balloons carried by winds across the border dropping trash across South Korea.

The country's missile administration will launch another of the same type of missile in July to test the super-large explosive force, KCNA said.

The Hwasongpho-11, or Hwasong-11, is a series of short-range ballistic missiles (SRBM) developed by North Korea known as KN-23 and KN-24.

The South Korean military said on Monday, July 1, the first of two missiles launched by North Korea appeared to be KN-23 flying about 600 km (373 miles).