North Korea said on Wednesday its newly developed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM)
can carry a large nuclear warhead, triggering a call by Washington for global action to
hold it accountable for pursuing nuclear weapons.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said to the state run news agency that the test completed
his country's strategic weapons capability that includes atomic and hydrogen bombs and ICBMs.
In this video, Defense Updates ANALYZES THE CAPABILITIES OF LATEST NORTH KOREAN MISSILE
AND EXAMINES HOW MUCH A THREAT IT IS TO U.S?
The latest missile termed KN-14, is a 2-stage missile.
The first stage of the missile is believed to be a KN-17 liquid fuel device, which is
well known to US and has been previously launched by North Korea.
North Koreans were able to attach a second stage atop the KN 17, to make the new KN 14 missile.
From single stage short-range missile to double stage long-range missile, North Korea has
made significant progress.
Another important aspect of the missile design was that it was fired from a mobile launcher.
Missiles that are mobile are hard to detect and eliminate.
This is very important consideration if U.S plans to launch a preemptive strike on North.
The first big question is what is its actual range.
North Korea said the missile flew on a steep trajectory, going 2,800 kilometers (1,741
miles) above the Earth, before splashing down in sea off the Korean Peninsula 930 kilometers
(578 miles) from its launch site.
Analysts said if the missile were fired on a standard, flatter trajectory it would be
capable of reaching around 6000 km.
That means the missile will be powerful enough to reach Alaska.
The Pentagon late Tuesday confirmed North Korea's test was an ICBM.
"The launch continues to demonstrate that North Korea poses a threat to the United States
and our allies," a Pentagon statement said.
The second big question is, can the missile carry a nuclear warhead.
The liquid- fueled ballistic missile Hwasong-12 launched earlier by North Korea on May 14
successfully re-entered the Earth's atmosphere.
It was a significant breakthrough for Pyongyang's missile program.
Successful reentry is a very complex because the heat generated during reentry can damage
a missile by demolishing its electronic systems, making it to collapse before reaching the target.
A combination of two factors causes heat when things move through air at supersonic speeds.
The first is simply friction between the air and the missile.
The second is the compression heating.
Since the missile is moving through the air faster than the air in front of it can move
out of its way, the air in front of the missile piles up, becoming compressed as it does so.
This compression causes it to heat up and that in turns heats up the missile.
Given these complications, the missile has to be constructed using proper materials and
designed in a precise manner.
Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis told reporters the latest ICBM had a re-entry
vehicle on top of it, so the missile could be used to carry a nuke.
Since inheriting power in late 2011, Kim Jong Un has dramatically increased the speed and
scope of North Korea’s development of nuclear weapons and the ballistic missile to carry them.
The US intelligence has not been able to gauge the pace.
US officials have said the intercontinental ballistic missile test-fired by North Korea
was something they had "never seen before".
As the West scrambled to assess the threat posed by the missile, Pentagon officials said
the two-stage device fired by Pyongyang was considered brand new.
This underlines the fact that US has very little intelligence
US have no embassy in Pyongyang, which means the CIA’s usual practice of employing spies
posing as diplomats to gain access to the host country’s secrets doesn’t apply.
Neither do American firms do business in North Korea, so the CIA’s other option, of employing
case officers under non-official cover—called NOCs in the spy trade—posing as businesspeople,
doesn’t apply either.
Pyongyang has buried most of its communications underground, making them immune to conventional
interception, while cell phones are almost unknown there.
Neither can National Security Agency (NSA) tap into the country’s computer networks
easily, since North Korea barely has Internet access.
Being all but sealed off from the world in IT terms means that the DPRK represents a
very hard target for NSA, as well as a denied area overall for American spies.
The United States has remained technically at war with North Korea since the 1950-53
Korean conflict ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty and the past six decades
have been punctuated by periodic rises in antagonism and rhetoric that have always stopped
short of a resumption of active hostilities.
Tensions have risen sharply after North Korea conducted two nuclear weapons tests last year
and carried out a steady stream of ballistic missile tests.
The US and South Korea also announced they had conducted a joint exercise in response
to North Korea's launch.
A South Korean statement said the drill which was "intended as a strong warning against
North Korean provocation" took place along South Korea's eastern coastline and "showcased
precision targeting of the enemy's leadership in case of an emergency."
The drill is a clear signal from the Pentagon that the US and South Korea have no intention
of stopping joint military exercises in exchange for North Korea halting its missile and nuclear
testing, as China and Russia earlier suggested.
North Korea's test firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile this week came as the U.S.
still had reliability issues with its homeland missile defense system and no guarantee it
could destroy any incoming nuclear warhead from the rogue regime.
Out of the 17 tests of the U.S. ground-based midcourse defense (GMD) system since 1999,
slightly more than half of them have been successful.
The situation was complex and the latest North Korean ICBM makes it even more complicated.