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SEOUL, April 9 (UPI) — North Korea said Thursday that it carried out a series of weapons tests this week, including a tactical ballistic missile with a cluster-bomb warhead as well as electromagnetic and other electronic warfare systems.

The tests, conducted from Monday to Wednesday, were part of efforts to assess the performance and battlefield use of several new weapons systems, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said.

KCNA said that its surface-to-surface Hwasong-11Ka missile was tested with a cluster-bomb payload capable of striking targets over a wide area, claiming it could “reduce to ashes” targets spanning roughly 16 to 17.2 acres.

The Hwasong-11 missile, also known as the KN-23, is a highly maneuverable short-range ballistic missile similar to Russia’s Iskander.

The report came one day after South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected multiple missile launches on Wednesday from the coastal Wonsan area toward the East Sea. The military also reported the launch of an unidentified projectile from the Pyongyang area on Tuesday.

In addition to the missile tests, North Korea said it conducted trials of an electromagnetic weapon system and carbon-fiber bombs, as well as a mobile short-range anti-aircraft missile system.

The tests were overseen by Kim Jong Sik, a senior official involved in the North’s missile development programs.

Kim said the electromagnetic weapon and carbon-fiber bomb are “special assets of strategic nature” that can be combined with various military systems.

Carbon-fiber bombs — also known as graphite bombs— are designed to disable electrical grids by dispersing fine conductive filaments to short-circuit power infrastructure, causing widespread outages without physical destruction.

Electromagnetic weapons, meanwhile, emit high-energy pulses that can disrupt or damage electronic systems, including communications networks, radar and computing infrastructure.

KCNA also said engineers conducted a test to measure the “maximum workload” of a missile engine using low-cost materials.

The reported mix of electronic weapons systems and cost-efficient production methods points to ongoing efforts to modernize and expand the North’s hybrid warfare capabilities.

The tests came after South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Monday expressed regret over unauthorized drone incursions into the North.

His remarks drew a rare response from Pyongyang, as Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of leader Kim Jong Un, described Lee as “frank and broad-minded.”

Seoul’s Unification Ministry called the exchange a positive signal, saying it represented “meaningful progress toward peaceful coexistence on the Korean Peninsula.”

North Korea’s first vice foreign minister, Jang Kum Chol, later rejected that interpretation, calling it a “hope-filled dream reading” and insisting the South remains “the enemy state most hostile to the DPRK.”

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is the official name of North Korea.

A South Korean military official said the allies are continuing to track developments in the North’s weapons programs.

“We maintain the ability and readiness to overwhelmingly respond to any provocation under a solid South Korea-U.S. joint defense posture,” Jang Do-young, public affairs director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a press briefing Thursday.

House Democrats and a panel of elections experts expressed unwavering confidence in state voting systems and dismissed Trump administration claims of widespread fraud and other vulnerabilities during a special “shadow hearing” in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

They accused President Trump and his Republican allies of pushing sweeping federal reforms — including stricter voter ID laws and new restrictions on voting by mail — that would disenfranchise millions of eligible Americans, especially low-income, rural and elderly voters, as well as voters of color and those with disabilities.

“They are taking us backward, and not to a good place,” said Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), who helped lead the hearing at the Daniel K. Inouye National Center for the Preservation of Democracy in Little Tokyo.

They also stressed that they and their allies were working hard to prevent such backsliding.

“While Republicans are expecting Democrats to just sit idly by as they attempt to steal yet another election, Democrats are getting out in the community, raising the alarm bells about the GOP’s efforts to rig these elections and fighting back in the courts, in Congress and in our communities,” said Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Redlands), chair of the Democratic Caucus. “We won’t let Republicans get away with their anti-democratic and un-American schemes.”

Such “shadow hearings” allow Democrats to highlight issues their majority-Republican counterparts won’t schedule for formal hearings in Washington. This week’s discussions — a second is scheduled Thursday in San Francisco — follow others in California in recent months, including on Trump’s immigration raids.

Pelosi, the former House speaker, led the hearing alongside Aguilar and Rep. Joseph Morelle of New York, the ranking Democrat on the House Administration Committee, which has oversight of elections. Joining them were fellow Democratic Reps. Nanette Barragán of San Pedro, Judy Chu of Monterey Park, Gil Cisneros of Covina, Laura Friedman of Glendale, Luz Rivas of North Hollywood, Linda Sánchez of Whittier, Norma Torres of Pomona and Maxine Waters of L.A.

Pelosi noted the setting on the grounds of the Japanese American National Museum, where Japanese Americans were detained before being unconstitutionally stripped of their belongings and taken to internment camps during World War II.

“To be here on a day when the president of the United States has talked about destroying the civilization of a country is so appalling. It’s so appalling, and I don’t think we can ignore comments like that, especially in a setting like this,” Pelosi said.

She also said that securing the nation’s elections against Trump’s threats and getting out the Democratic vote was the surest way of restoring order to U.S. relations abroad — and far more likely than getting Trump’s Cabinet to remove him from office by invoking the 25th Amendment.

“We have to make sure that the mentality that would obliterate a civilization, undermine a democracy by fighting free and fair elections, just cannot prevail,” she said.

The hearings were designed to challenge a narrative Trump has pushed for years — that U.S. elections are badly compromised by widespread fraud, that mail ballots such as those used in California are a particularly large source of abuse, and that noncitizens are voting in large numbers — none of which he has supported with evidence.

Trump tried unsuccessfully to challenge his 2020 loss to Joe Biden using similar arguments. When he returned to the White House, he immediately directed his administration to pursue the claims anew, including under executive orders he issued asserting new and sweeping federal authority over elections, which by law are controlled by the states.

The Justice Department in September sued California and other states for their voter rolls, which courts rejected. The FBI in January raided and seized 2020 election records from an elections office in Fulton County, Ga., where Trump rejected 2020 results. Trump in February said Republicans “ought to nationalize the voting.” Last week, he issued an executive order purporting to give federal agencies control over ballot processing by the U.S. Postal Service, which followed a previous order seeking to place new federal requirements on voter identification and proof of citizenship.

Trump has said his efforts are “common sense” steps average Americans support to secure elections against noncitizens voting and other threats.

Experts who provided testimony at Tuesday’s hearing roundly rejected that argument, saying the measures address problems that don’t existand are more geared toward securing wins for Republicans than ensuring election safety.

Jenny Farrell, executive director of the League of Women Voters of California, said that Americans are “more likely to be struck by lightning” than to commit voter fraud, and that many recent proposals framed around election integrity are really designed to narrow access to voting for certain groups. She also said California’s elections are particularly strong.

“We’re like the Dodgers of elections,” she said.

Darius Kemp, executive director of Common Cause California, said the state’s elections “are safe and secure,” and the Trump administration is threatening democratic participation in novel and alarming ways that his organization is watching carefully.

Justin Levitt, a Loyola Law School professor, said Trump is trying to project power over elections “that he simply does not have,” and if local and state officials, the courts and pro-democracy groups stand their ground, he will fail.

“If we keep calm and carry on, we can make our voices heard loud and clear,” he said.

Hector Villagra, vice president of policy advocacy and community education at MALDEF, or the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said “the evidence could not be more clear — noncitizen voting is exceedingly rare,” and Trump’s proposals would simply “raise the cost of lawful voting” for groups already underrepresented at the polls.

“The question is not whether we can verify eligibility. We already do that,” he said. “The question is whether we will impose new barriers that will prevent eligible citizens from participating at all.”

Sonni Waknin, senior staff attorney at the UCLA Voting Rights Project, said “democracy is under attack” across the nation, and that the photo identification requirement Trump and other Republicans are pushing would disenfranchise a million eligible voters in California alone.

When Cisneros asked about what could be done to prepare for the inevitable claims of fraud from Trump and other Republicans after the midterms, Levitt said that such claims must be called out for what they are.

“We call those lies, because they are lies,” he said.

When Waters asked the experts about the effect of federal immigration agents being deployed to polling places, as some in Trump’s orbit have suggested, Villagra said damage was already being done just from the rumors of such action — whether agents show up or not.

“It’s the threat that’s really what’s powerful here,” he said, as people — especially Latino voters — are already intimidated, and leaders should do more to reassure voters and offer alternatives to showing up to polls, such as voting by mail.

The F-15E Weapons System Officer (WSO), missing since his plane was shot down on Friday, has been rescued after a very risky combat search and rescue operation and fierce firefight in southern Iran. The pilot had already been retrieved during the rescue operation in which two HH-60H Jolly Green II combat search and rescue (CSAR) helicopters were reportedly damaged by incoming fire, injuring several troops.

President Trump took to Truth Social confirming multiple reports that the WSO was safely in American hands.

WE GOT HIM! My fellow Americans, over the past several hours, the United States Military pulled off one of the most daring Search and Rescue Operations in U.S. History, for one of our incredible Crew Member Officers, who also happens to be a highly respected Colonel, and who I am thrilled to let you know is now SAFE and SOUND! This brave Warrior was behind enemy lines in the treacherous mountains of Iran, being hunted down by our enemies, who were getting closer and closer by the hour, but was never truly alone because his Commander in Chief, Secretary of War, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and fellow Warfighters were monitoring his location 24 hours a day, and diligently planning for his rescue. At my direction, the U.S. Military sent dozens of aircraft, armed with the most lethal weapons in the World, to retrieve him. He sustained injuries, but he will be just fine. This miraculous Search and Rescue Operation comes in addition to a successful rescue of another brave Pilot, yesterday, which we did not confirm, because we did not want to jeopardize our second rescue operation. This is the first time in military memory that two U.S. Pilots have been rescued, separately, deep in Enemy Territory. WE WILL NEVER LEAVE AN AMERICAN WARFIGHTER BEHIND! The fact that we were able to pull off both of these operations, without a SINGLE American killed, or even wounded, just proves once again, that we have achieved overwhelming Air Dominance and Superiority over the Iranian skies. This is a moment that ALL Americans, Republican, Democrat, and everyone else, should be proud of and united around. We truly have the best, most professional, and lethal Military in the History of the World. GOD BLESS AMERICA, GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS, AND HAPPY EASTER TO ALL!

“U.S. special forces rescued the second crew member of the F-15 fighter jet that was shot down over Iran,” Axios reported prior to Trump’s posting, citing three U.S. officials. “Saturday’s operation was conducted by a specialized commando unit with a high volume of air cover…the U.S. forces unleashed a hail of heavy fire, and that all of the forces were now out of Iran.”

Videos emerged from the scene showing what appears to be missile strikes, with the sounds of gunfire and explosions being heard.

Another video purports to show Iranian citizens in the area, searching for the pilot. Tehran has offered a large reward for the WSO’s capture. Seizing the airman, or killing them, would have provided an enormous public relations windfall for Tehran and embarrassment for Washington.

Earlier Saturday evening, the Instagram account for U.S. Air Force Special Warfare Recruiting said the WSO was rescued.

“BREAKING: The missing F-15E weapons systems officer that was shot down in Iran yesterday was recovered alive by American Special Operations with Air Force Special Warfare attachments inside contested enemy area in Iran.

Special operators willingly put their lives on the line to rescue the fallen, engaged in a ‘massive firefight’ at the extraction site, and fought with all they had ‘so that others may live.’

What a win for America, and the WSO who paid attention in SERE training. What a win for the Air Force Special Warfare community. If you are looking to join America’s best and bravest that bring our fellow Americans home on their worst days, contact your local Air Force Recruiter today!

F-15 WSO recovered alive. Was escaping and evading. Massive fire fight on tgt. Iranians were actively looking for him in the area.”

In addition, journalist and former Green Beret Jack Murphy stated on X that they were rescued before reports began to hit online.

Since the shootdown, the U.S. has deployed a rescue packages including fighters for top cover, the HH-60W Jolly Green II helicopters and HC-130J Combat King CSAR planes, surveillance jets and drones, among many other assets. You can read more about what goes into a CSAR package in our previous reporting here. As the U.S. search continued Saturday for the WSO, a large firefight reportedly broke out in the southern area of Iran near where the crash took place.

As we have frequently noted, CSAR operations are among the most dangerous and complex missions U.S. troops perform, penetrating into potentially highly defended territory where, in this case, one of America’s most capable combat aircraft did not survive. All this is taking place with the Iranians on the highest alert and very active with their own hunt for the WSO. The fact that the operation was launched in broad daylight soon after the F-15E went down shows the stunning amount of risk U.S. personnel took on in order to save one of their own.

After the crash, videos emerged of the rescue efforts.

One showed a Combat King flying low over the Iranian countryside.

A rescue helicopter can be seen coming under Iranian fire in the following video.