In Joint Chiefs Failure Analysis... North Korea Refutes with "Successful Multiple Warhead Test" (Comprehensive)

Hamcham Judges Hypersonic Missile Test a 'Failure'
North Korea Denies, Claims Multiple Warhead Missile Test 'Successful'
"Top Concern of the Party Central Committee"... Kim Jong Un's All-Out Effort

North Korea claimed that the ballistic missile launch on the 26th was a 'successful test' aimed at securing multiple warhead capabilities. This statement was made in response to the analysis by South Korean military authorities, which judged that North Korea's hypersonic missile launch had failed.

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on the 27th, "The Missile General Bureau successfully conducted a test of individual maneuvering warhead (multiple warhead) separation and guidance control, which holds significant meaning in achieving the goal of advancing missile technology." It added, "(The purpose of the test) is to secure the capability to destroy individual targets with multiple warheads," and stated that "this is part of the normal activities of the Missile General Bureau and affiliated Defense Science Research Institutes for the technological advancement of weapon systems." Multiple warhead missiles can attack several targets simultaneously and are considered an important stage in the process of enhancing nuclear and missile capabilities.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

North Korea explained the test process as "conducted within a radius of 170 to 200 km, favorable for measuring the flight characteristics of individual maneuvering warheads, while ensuring maximum safety by using a single-stage engine of a medium-to-long-range solid-fuel ballistic missile." In particular, it claimed that "(the separated warheads) were accurately guided to three preset target coordinate points," and "the effectiveness of decoys separated from the missile was also verified using anti-aircraft target detection devices." The Missile General Bureau self-assessed that "this holds significant meaning in strengthening missile capabilities and technological development."

Park Jong-chon, the top military official and Vice Chairman of the Party Central Military Commission, and Kim Jong-sik, the first deputy director of the Workers' Party, observed the test and emphasized that "improving the capability to destroy individual targets with individual maneuvering warheads is a very important national defense technology task and a matter of utmost concern to the Party Central Committee." The phrase 'a matter of utmost concern to the Party Central Committee' implies that Chairman Kim Jong-un is dedicating full efforts to this.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The Joint Chiefs of Staff announced that North Korea launched an unidentified ballistic missile from the Pyongyang area toward the East Sea the previous day. It is presumed that the test launch was attempted to improve the performance of a solid-fuel hypersonic ballistic missile but failed. A Joint Chiefs official explained, "One missile flew about 250 km before exploding in the air over the sea east of Wonsan," adding, "fragments scattered over a radius of several kilometers and fell into the sea."