Some experts consider the test launch a propaganda effort in view of its limited real usefulness. Pyongyang’s goal could be to attract the attention of the United States before the elections or to respond to international pressure by sending troops to Russia.
ADVERTISINGNorth Korea boasted this Friday that the new intercontinental ballistic missile which he just tested is “the strongest in the world”, but the claim has been considered pure propaganda after experts determined that it was too big to be useful in a war situation.
The ICBM launched Thursday flew higher and longer than any other weapon North Korea have tried to date. But foreign experts say the test failed to demonstrate that Pyongyang has mastered some of the last remaining technological hurdles to possessing functional ICBMs that can strike the mainland. USA.
The North’s Korean Central News Agency identified the missile as a Hwasong-19 and called it “the world’s strongest strategic missile” and “the perfected weapon system.” The official media said leader Kim Jong-un watched the launch, describing it as an expression of the country’s determination to respond to external threats to your safety.
The color and shape of the flames seen in photos of the launch taken by North Korean media suggest that the missile uses pre-charged solid fuel, making the weapons more agile and more difficult to detect than liquid propellants which, in general, must be fed beforehand.
Serious doubts about its usefulness in a war context
But experts say the images show that the ICBM and its launch vehicle are of big sizewhich raises a serious doubt about his mobility and ability to survive in times of war.
“When missiles get bigger, what happens? Vehicles get bigger, too. As transporter-erector launchers get bigger, your mobility decreases“said Lee Sangmin, an expert at South Korea’s Institute for Defense Analysis.
It is estimated that the Hwasong-19 has at least 28 meters longwhile advanced American and Russian ICBMs are less than 20 meters long, said Chang Young-keun, a missile expert at the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy in Seoul. He also suggested that the size of the missile likely helped South Korean intelligence authorities detect the launch plan in advance.
The launch would seek to capture American attention, according to analysts
In recent years, North Korea has reported steady progress in its efforts to obtain nuclear-tipped missiles. Many foreign experts believe that Pyongyang probably has missiles that can launch nuclear strikes against the entire South Koreabut it does not yet have nuclear missiles capable of attacking the continental United States.
Los obstacles that it still needs to overcome, experts say, include ensuring its warheads survive the heat and stress of atmospheric reentry, improving the missiles’ altitude control and guidance systems, and being able to use multiple warheads on a single missile to defeat defenses. anti-missile.
Some analysts say Thursday’s launch, North Korea’s first test of an intercontinental ballistic missile in almost a year, was aim principal capture American attention days before that country’s presidential elections, as well as responding to international condemnation for the alleged sending of North Korean troops to Russia to support Putin’s war against Ukraine.
