Gov’t says it tested a new multiwarhead missile. South Korea says it’s covering up a failure

North Korea said yesterday it had successfully tested a multiwarhead missile in the first known launch of a developmental weapon coveted by leader Kim Jong Un to overwhelm U.S. and South Korean missile defenses. South Korea quickly dismissed the claim as deception to cover up a failed launch.

North Korea’s state media said the launch Wednesday tested the separation and guidance control of individual mobile warheads to ensure the capability of the Multiple Independent Reentry Vehicles. It said the separated warheads “were guided correctly to the three coordinate targets” and a decoy that separated from the missile was verified by radar.

If confirmed, it would be North Korea’s first public launch event related to the development of a multiwarhead missile, though at a preliminary stage.

South Korea’s military said later Thursday that a joint analysis by South Korean and U.S. authorities assessed that the North Korean missile launch failed.

Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesperson Lee Sung Joon told reporters that the separation of warheads in MIRV tests happens in descending stages but the North Korean missile exploded in the initial stage of its flight. He said North Korean photos of the launch showed a weapon similar to a liquid-fuel Hwasong-17 ICBM that the country test-fired in March 2023.

The South Korean military’s earlier assessment Wednesday was that a suspected solid-fueled hypersonic missile was launched and exploded off the North’s east coast, scattering fragments in the water. It said it detected more smoke than normal launches, suggesting a possible combustion issue caused by an engine fault.

A multiwarhead missile was among the high-tech weapons systems Kim cited on his wish list during a ruling party meeting in early 2021, along with spy satellites, solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missiles, hypersonic weapons and submarine-launched nuclear missiles. North Korea has since performed a series of tests to develop such weapons systems.

“I had been anticipating a MIRV test for some time now, as this was one of the last remaining items on Kim Jong Un’s modernization wish list from the 8th Party Congress back in January 2021,” said Ankit Panda, a senior analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Panda said Wednesday’s test appeared to be an initial evaluation of some of the key subsystems to develop a workable MIRV. He expect successive tests of the technology to follow, leading up to a launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile on a lofted trajectory. Panda said it appeared that “South Korea misinterpreted the nature of this test initially.”

Lee Choon Geun, an honorary research fellow at South Korea’s Science and Technology Policy Institute, said North Korea appeared to have begun testing individual technological elements of multiwarhead missiles. He said more tests are expected to perfect the separation and guidance control and other facets of multiwarhead missile technology.

Chang Young-keun, a missile expert at Seoul’s Korea Research Institute for National Strategy, said the North Korean test hasn’t yet proved it has sufficient MIRV controlling technologies needed for ICBMs. He said North Korea didn’t release enough information to verify its MIRVs made successful atmospheric reentries and hit designated targets. HYUNG-JIN KIM, SEOUL, MDT/AP