Ballistic missiles armed with cluster-bomb warheads were among the new set of weapons that the North Korean regime tested this past week, news reports said.
Two rounds of test fires were conducted by Pyongyang from the eastern coast, which reportedly included anti-aircraft weapons, electromagnetic weapons systems, and carbon-fibre bombs, in addition to cluster bombs.
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While North Korea's state media confirmed the latest tests, Seoul claimed that the missiles covered 240 to 700 kilometres before falling into the sea. The cluster-munition warhead systems were mounted on nuclear-capable Hwasong-11 ballistic missiles, CNN said. They have adopted the design of Russia’s Iskander missiles to maintain a low-altitude, manoeuvrable flight to evade missile defence systems, the report added.
What are carbon-fibre bombs and cluster munitions?
The electromagnetic weapon system could have the capacity to disable electronic circuits in the enemy's assets, with the potential ability to cripple South Korea's F-35A stealth fighter jets or Aegis-equipped destroyers, Lim said. Carbon-fibre bombs, which have been developed by advanced militaries such as those of the US and China, are capable of crippling infrastructure like power plants by sprinkling conductive strands of carbon fibre over a target.
Cluster bombs became a talking point after Israel complained that Iran widely used them over its cities during the recent conflict.
These weapons are blacklisted due to the severe damage they can cause over a vast area. They sacrifice precision for lethality, threatening non-combat regions and establishments away from the intended targets. The fragments fired by these warheads often remain undetonated, causing civilian casualties even years after a conflict.
The unveiling of such weapons complicates South Korea's defence strategy against North Korean threats.
Shin Jong-woo, secretary general at the Korea Defence and Security Forum, said that North Korea was learning lessons from conflicts such as those in Ukraine and the Middle East. For the first time, he said, Pyongyang was also openly stating it was pursuing weapons designed to attack South Korea's industrial infrastructure.
"North Korea appears to be developing these weapons with that asymmetric warfare model very much in mind," Shin told Reuters, noting how important it is to be able to mass-produce weapons and use electronic warfare to disrupt power grids and industrial infrastructure.