ICBM test is N. Korea's next step

By Jun Ji-hye

North Korea’s successful launching of multiple anti-ship cruise missiles, Thursday, showed its capability in the event of war.

The cruise missiles were the fifth new type of missile the Kim Jong-un regime has tested in less than a month after an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), May 14; a medium-range ballistic missile, May 21; a surface-to-air missile, May 27; and an anti-ship ballistic missile, May 29.

It now seems that the last remaining missile test for the North may be one involving an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). The North’s KN-08 or KN-14 road-mobile ICBM, which has never been tested, is believed to have a range of more than 10,000 kilometers, enough to reach the U.S. mainland.

The Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party, claimed May 31 that the regime in Pyongyang is ready to test the ICBM at any time from any location upon the order from its leadership.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un also said during his New Year address that the repressive state has entered the final stage of preparations to launch a nuclear armed ICBM.

Military authorities here said they are preparing for the possibility for Pyongyang to launch the ICBM soon.

Apparently mindful of the North having taken a significant step forward in developing an operational ICBM, the United States carried out an interceptor test over the Pacific Ocean, May 30, in which an ICBM target was fired from a site in the Marshall Islands. A ground-based interceptor was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

It was Washington’s first-ever test of the missile defense system to intercept and destroy an ICBM target. The Pentagon said the test was successful, with Vice Admiral Jim Syring, director of the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), noting that it showed the United States can “outpace” foreign missile threats through 2020.

On May 15, Pyongyang announced it successfully test-fired the IRBM, called the Hwasong-12, “capable of carrying a large-size heavy nuclear warhead” and reaching the U.S. mainland.

The Kim regime claimed that the missile fell precisely onto a designated target 787 kilometers away in the sea after reaching a maximum altitude of 2,111 kilometers.

At the time, the North said the test was conducted “at the highest angle in consideration of the security of neighboring countries.”

Military experts said if the test had been conducted at the normal angle, the missile might have flown about 5,000 kilometers.

Regarding the development of North Korean missiles, Marine Lt. Gen. Vincent Stewart, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said that if “left unchecked,” the reclusive state is on an “inevitable” path to mastering the ICBM capability to strike the U.S.