North Korea claims first successful test of multiple-warhead missile

SEOUL, June 27 (UPI) -- North Korea successfully conducted its first multiple-warhead missile test, state media reported Thursday, one day after South Korea said the North's latest missile launch ended in failure.

"The DPRK Missile Administration successfully conducted the separation and guidance control test of individual mobile warheads [on Wednesday]," Korean Central News Agency reported.

"The test was carried out by use of the first-stage engine of an intermediate-range solid-fuel ballistic missile within a 170-200 km (105-125 mile) radius, which is favorable for ensuring maximum safety and measuring the flight characteristics of individual mobile warheads," the KCNA report said.

The North said the test "aimed at securing the MIRV capability," referring to multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles, which permit a single missile to deliver multiple warheads to different targets.

The weapons are "much more difficult to defend against than traditional missiles," according to The Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said Wednesday that a suspected hypersonic missile launched by North Korea appeared to explode in mid-air off the country's east coast after flying for approximately 155 miles.

A JCS official added that more smoke than usual emanated from the missile, suggesting the possibility of combustion issues.

Multiple-warhead missile technology was on a wish list of weapons that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un laid out at a party congress in January 2021, alongside nuclear-powered submarines, submarine-launched intercontinental ballistic missiles, "ultramodern tactical nuclear weapons" and military satellites.

Wednesday's test successfully sent warheads to three separate targets, KCNA said.

"The effectiveness of a decoy separated from the missile was also verified by anti-air radar," it added.

The launch comes amid mounting international concerns over a mutual defense treaty signed by North Korea and Russia during Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Pyongyang last week.

On Thursday, South Korea, the United States and Japan kicked off their first trilateral multi-domain military exercise, Freedom Edge, as the allies look to deepen security cooperation against threats from North Korea.

The three-day exercise mobilized warships and aircraft including the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier, South Korea's ROKS Seoae Ryu Seong-ryong destroyer and Japan's JS Ise helicopter destroyer, the JCS said in a press release. Freedom Edge is being held in international waters south of South Korea's Jeju Island.

Staging regular trilateral multi-domain exercises was agreed upon by U.S. President Joe Biden , South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during their Camp David summit in August.

North Korea also sent trash-filled balloons over the border with the South for a third day in a row, the JCS said Thursday, continuing back-and-forth provocations that have raised tensions near the demilitarized zone that separates the two Koreas.

The North launched more than 180 balloons carrying scrap paper overnight, the JCS said in a message to reporters, with around 70 landing in Seoul and the northern part of neighboring Gyeonggi Province.

The launch marked the seventh time in the last month that North Korea has sent balloons filled with debris and even excrement, according to South Korean officials. On Wednesday, the North's balloons prompted Incheon International Airport, just west of Seoul, to shut down its runways for three hours in the early hours of the morning.

Seoul briefly resumed anti-Pyongyang loudspeaker broadcasts at the border earlier this month in response to the launches and the JCS has said it was prepared to begin the transmissions again at any time.