North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaks in Pyongyang in this image released by the state-run Korean Central News Agency on Sept. 22, 2025. (KCNA)
North Korea tested a tactical ballistic missile tipped with a cluster bomb warhead this week, claiming it can reduce target areas to “ashes,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported Thursday.
The country’s military launched a Hwasong-11Ka surface-to-surface missile tipped with the warhead during a series of weapon systems tests between Monday and Wednesday, according to KCNA.
The test-firing aimed to estimate the combat application and cluster munitions power of the weapon, which North Korea claims can destroy a target area spanning 16 to 17.2 acres, according to the report.
The tests also aimed to verify the combat reliability of a mobile short-range anti-aircraft missile system, assess its electromagnetic weapon system and the dispersal of its carbon-fiber sham bombs, according to KCNA.
General Kim Jong Sik, a member of the Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party of Korea, oversaw the tests, the report said.
The electromagnetic weapon and carbon fiber bombs “are special assets of strategic nature to be combined with and applied to various military means in different spheres,” Kim said in the report.
South Korean military authorities determined that Wednesday’s launch appeared abnormal, Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesman Col. Jang Do-young said at a news briefing Thursday in Seoul. He provided no further details.
The Ministry of National Defense reported several short-range ballistic missiles launched at 8:50 a.m. Wednesday, followed by another short-range ballistic missile at 2:20 p.m. over the East Sea, widely known as the Sea of Japan.
The second missile flew more than 430 miles compared to the earlier launch, which flew about 150 miles, according to the ministry.
The Joint Chiefs on Wednesday said it shared the flight data with the U.S. and Japan.
The South Korean military is “closely monitoring North Korea’s various movements under firm South Korea-U.S. combined defense posture and maintains the capability and readiness to overwhelmingly respond to any provocations,” according to the Joints Chiefs’ statement.