North Korea shows off possible solid-fuel ICBM at night-time parade
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SEOUL – Nuclear-armed North Korea showcased its missile production during a night-time parade, its state media reported on Thursday, displaying more intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) than ever before and hinting at a new solid-fuel weapon.
The North held the widely anticipated night-time military parade in Pyongyang on Wednesday to mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of its army, said state news agency KCNA.
Leader Kim Jong Un attended with his daughter, who is seen as playing a possible future leadership role in the hereditary dictatorship.
The ICBMs showed the country’s “greatest” nuclear strike capability, the Korean Central News Agency said, adding that the parade also featured tactical nuclear units.
Images released by state media showed as many as 11 Hwasong-17s – North Korea’s largest ICBMs – which are suspected to have the range to strike nearly anywhere in the world with a nuclear warhead.
“This is cumulatively more ICBM launchers than we’ve ever seen before at a North Korean parade,” said Mr Ankit Panda from the United States-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, on Twitter. If such ICBMs are equipped with multiple warheads, that number could be enough to saturate existing US missile defence systems, he added.
The Hwasong-17 was first tested in 2022.
The North has forged ahead with its ballistic missile programme, launching larger and more advanced missiles despite United Nations Security Council resolutions and sanctions.
“This time, Kim Jong Un let North Korea’s expanding tactical and long-range missile forces speak for themselves,” said Professor Leif-Eric Easley from Ewha University in Seoul.
“The message Pyongyang wants to send internationally, demonstrating its capabilities to deter and coerce, will likely come in the form of solid-fuel missile tests and detonation of a miniaturised nuclear device.”
The Hwasong-17s were followed by what some analysts said could be a prototype or mock-up of a new solid-fuel ICBM in canister launchers.
The canisterised ICBMs appeared different from those shown in a 2017 parade, Mr Panda said.
Most of the North’s largest ballistic missiles use liquid fuel, requiring them to be loaded with propellant at the launch site – a time-consuming process.
Developing a solid-fuel ICBM has long been seen as a key goal for the country, as it could make its nuclear missiles harder to spot and destroy during a conflict.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry criticised North Korea for holding the event when it is facing a worsening food crisis and economic difficulties.
“We urge North Korea to immediately stop illegal nuclear and missile development, and reckless nuclear threats, and promptly return to the denuclearisation negotiations,” ministry spokesman Lim Soo-suk told a regular briefing.
North Korea has said its missile programme and nuclear weapons development fall under its sovereign right to self-defence, and are necessary because of hostile policies by the US and its allies.
In December, North Korea conducted the first static ground test of a large solid-propellant rocket motor at its Sohae Satellite Launching Station, but at the time, it was unclear whether it was solely for the country’s submarine-launched ballistic missile programme, said Mr David Schmerler, a researcher at the James Martin Centre for Nonproliferation Studies.
North Korea has not launched its new missile submarine, however, so the parade weapon suggests intentional signalling that Pyongyang is pursuing a complex, land-based ICBM deterrent, he said.
“The general takeaway is that we should expect to see North Korea test a large land-based solid-fuel ICBM,” Mr Schmerler said.
It is unclear how close the suspected new missile could be to testing. North Korea has sometimes displayed mock-ups at the parades. REUTERS
