North Korea says it tested a cruise missile with a 'dispersal' warhead, its second cluster-type test in three days

North Korea tested a strategic cruise missile carrying a "dispersal" warhead, a type of cluster munition that scatters dozens of small bomblets over a target, state media said on Tuesday. The test took place on Monday, November 2, two days after Pyongyang tested a similar warhead on a short-range ballistic missile.

The state news agency said the "mid-sized dispersal warhead" can turn a target area of 5 to 6 hectares "into ashes" at its densest setting, roughly the size of eight to ten football pitches. The claim could not be independently checked.

What Pyongyang says the missile did

The test was carried out by the Missile Administration and overseen by General Kim Jong Sik, a senior member of the ruling Workers' Party's Central Military Commission. State media did not say that leader Kim Jong Un attended, and it gave no launch site or flight distance.

According to state media, two weapons institutes were involved:

• The Warhead Institute said the dispersal warhead met its design goals for area coverage.
• The Cruise Missile System Institute said it had "perfected" a vertical strike, in which the missile pulls up and dives almost straight down onto its target in the final seconds, adjusted to the terrain around the target.

Photos released by state media show what appears to be a long-range cruise missile of the Hwasal or Pulhwasal family flying low before bursting in mid-air and releasing dozens of small munitions. A steep final dive makes a cruise missile harder for air defences to intercept and lets bomblets spread more evenly.

Officials said the tests showed "practical combat power" and that developing new weapons was more urgent than ever to deter threats.

Three tests in about a week

Date	Test (as claimed by North Korea)	Claimed coverage
Late October	About 10 ballistic missiles fired from the Wonsan area into the sea	—
Saturday, Oct 31	"Standard Type 2" cluster warhead on a tactical ballistic missile	12–13 hectares
Monday, Nov 2	Mid-sized dispersal warhead on a strategic cruise missile, plus vertical strike	5–6 hectares

After Saturday's test, North Korea said its military units would be able to use four categories of cluster weapons by the end of this year.

Why cluster warheads alarm Seoul

Cluster munitions are banned by more than 100 countries under a 2008 treaty because unexploded bomblets can kill civilians long after a strike. North Korea, South Korea and the United States have not joined the treaty.

For South Korea, the worry is practical. Cluster warheads on short-range missiles and cruise missiles are designed to hit wide areas such as airbases, ports, troop positions and artillery batteries, rather than single buildings. Some analysts say the new weapons could reach targets across the South, as far as the port city of Busan. Cruise missiles fly low and can change course, which makes them harder to track than ballistic missiles.

The tests come as North Korea criticises joint US-South Korean military drills, which it describes as rehearsals for a nuclear war. Pyongyang calls its own weapons programmes self-defence.

What to watch

South Korea's military usually reports ballistic launches but often does not comment on cruise missile tests, which are not banned by UN Security Council resolutions in the same way. If the North keeps its year-end deadline, more tests of the remaining cluster warhead types are likely in November and December.