At a military parade this past Saturday, North Korea showed off the country’s long-range weapons. The NYTimes reports that it is unclear whether the powerful weapon was just for show or actually worked. Regardless, it gained plenty of attention. This was the first display of long-range weapons in two years.
Kim Jong Un vowed in his 2020 New Year’s message to produce a “new strategic weapon”. This message was all but forgot in the past year as the country battled COVID and devastating flooding.
CNBC reports that the missile is a “new, larger ICBM designed to carry multiple independent reentry vehicles (MIRVs), allowing it to attack more targets and making interception more difficult.” It looks like Kim Jong Un kept his vow in presenting a tactical weapon.
Along with the new ICBM, Hwasong-15, the longest-range missile North Korea has ever tested was displayed, and a new submarine-launched ballistic missile.
It is clear Kin Jong Un is eager to prove the lethality of North Korea’s nuclear arsenal and might even be publicly warning his intention to test the missile. For now, it looks like it was simply a matter of showcasing but we will see how things change after the election in a few weeks.
Victoria,
Analysts have been expecting the DPRK to reveal the existence of a longer-range missile for some time. But, as you note, it’s unclear whether this is actually a working, deployed weapon or just a mock-up of one? If it’s real, it has not been tested, because we and the South Koreans are monitoring their tests extremely closely. It really could not be deployed without multiple tests because it couldn’t be considered reliable.
Irrespective of whether Donald Trump is reelected, Kim Jong-un is playing a dangerous game by pushing ahead with the development of this new missile, which if it ever became operational would be capable of reaching at least the western half of the United States. Since the failure of the US-DPRK bilateral talks, the US has been trying to maintain a low profile. And so far, the North has refrained from testing a missile or a nuclear device. But if this situation were to change, things could become very unstable very quickly. –Professor Wallerstein