Asia

Home page

Asia

In photos, North Korea signals a more powerful ICBM in the works

25 August 2017 01:29 (UTC +04:00)

With photographs obliquely showing a new rocket design, North Korea has sent a message that it is working on an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) more powerful than any it has previously tested, weapons experts said on Thursday, APA reports quoting Reuters

If developed, such a missile could possibly reach any place on the U.S. mainland, including Washington and New York, they said.

North Korea's state media published photographs late on Wednesday of leader Kim Jong Un standing next to a diagram of a three-stage rocket it called the Hwasong-13.

Missile experts, who scrutinize such pictures for clues about North Korea's weapons programs, said there is no indication the rocket has been fully developed. In any case, it had not been flight tested and it was impossible to calculate its potential range.

However, a three-stage rocket would be more powerful than the two-stage Hwasong-14 ICBM tested twice in July, they said. South Korean and U.S. officials and experts have said the Hwasong-14 may have a range of about 10,000 km (6,200 miles) and could possibly strike many parts of the United States, but not the East Coast.

"We should be looking at Hwasong-13 as a 12,000-km class ICBM that can strike all of the mainland United States," said Kim Dong-yub, a military expert at Seoul's Kyungnam University.

"It's likely meant to show that they are working on a three-stage design with greater boost and range," said retired Brigadier General Moon Sung-muk, an arms control expert who has represented South Korea in military talks with North Korea.