North Korea conducts a test on ‘super-large warhead’ – KCNA

People watch a television screen showing a news broadcast with file footage of a North Korean missile test, at a railway station in Seoul on April 2, 2024. North Korea fired a medium-range ballistic missile on April 2, Seoul’s military said, the latest in a spate of banned weapons tests by Kim Jong Un’s regime this year. (Photo by Jung Yeon-je / AFP)

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea conducted a test on a “super-large warhead” designed for a strategic cruise missile, state media said Saturday, adding that it also launched a new type of anti-aircraft missile.

“The DPRK Missile Administration has conducted a power test of a super-large warhead designed for ‘Hwasal-1 Ra-3’ strategic cruise missile,” KCNA news agency reported, referring to North Korea by an abbreviation for its official name.

North Korea also carried out a test launch on Friday afternoon of a “‘Pyoljji-1-2’ new-type anti-aircraft missile in the West Sea of Korea,” KCNA said.

It added that “a certain goal was attained” through the test without providing further details.

READ: North Korea leader Kim Jong Un orders heightened war preparations – KCNA

Both tests were part of the “regular activities of the administration and its affiliated defense science institutes,” KCNA reported, referencing the operation of “new-type weapon systems.”

It added that the tests “had nothing to do with the surrounding situation,” but did not add any further information.

In early April, North Korea said it had tested a new medium-to-long-range solid-fuel hypersonic missile, with state media sharing a video of it being launched as leader Kim Jong Un looked on.

READ: North Korea’s Kim calls for nuclear attack readiness against US, South Korea

Pyongyang has been under a raft of international sanctions since its second nuclear test in 2009, but the development of its nuclear and weapons programs has continued unabated.

So far this year, the nuclear-armed North has declared South Korea its “principal enemy,” jettisoned agencies dedicated to reunification and outreach, and threatened war over “even 0.001 mm” of territorial infringement.