North Korea tests cluster-bomb warheads in latest weapons drill — SkimNews
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- North Korea test-fired cluster-bomb warheads on October 31, 2026, assessing their combat adaptation and destructive power when fitted to tactical ballistic missiles.
- KCNA reported that officials found the warhead capable of turning a 12-to-13-hectare target area into ashes at its highest-density power.
- Missile Administration’s general director said that within 2026, units would be able to select and use all those cluster-warhead types according to operational aims and specific target features.
- KCNA released photos showing a projectile firing from a mobile launcher and multiple cluster-bomb impacts on an island target.
- North Korea had recently trialled attack drones, a new precision-guided torpedo system and an intermediate-range hypersonic missile before Saturday’s test.
- North Korea denied responsibility for a landmine explosion along the fortified border that wounded three South Korean soldiers, and vowed to further fortify the area and resume its loudspeaker campaign.
- Kim Jong Un was absent from the October 31 test but had overseen an April test-launch of cluster-bomb warheads mounted on a ballistic missile, accompanied by his daughter Ju Ae.
Why it matters: North Korea’s military units are the intended beneficiaries: by year-end, they are to select and use all those warhead types for particular operational aims and targets. South Korea is already confronting a border-landmine incident that wounded three of its soldiers, for which North Korea has denied responsibility.
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