North Korean state media has claimed that the country’s Missile Administration carried out an initial test of a multiple warhead-equipped missile on Wednesday, an important milestone in the ongoing modernization of Pyongyang’s strategic nuclear deterrent.

This test begins the process of realizing one of the last remaining qualitative benchmarks in the five-year military modernization plan set out by leader Kim Jong Un at the Eighth Party Congress in Jan. 2021.

Multiple warhead missiles offer substantial strategic advantages for the DPRK, potentially enabling it to better penetrate U.S. missile defenses and at a reduced