North Korea boasts ‘world’s most powerful’ missile, but experts say it’s too big to use in war

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea boasted Friday that new intercontinental ballistic missile the one just test-launched is “the world’s most powerful”, a claim seen as pure propaganda after experts judged it to be too large to be useful in a war situation.

The ICBM launched Thursday flew higher and for longer than any other weapon North Korea has tested. But foreign experts say the test did not show North Korea has mastered some of the last remaining technological hurdles to possessing operational ICBMs capable of hitting the US mainland

The North’s Korean Central News Agency identified the missile as a Hwasong-19 and called it “the world’s most powerful strategic missile” and “the perfected weapon system.” Official media said leader Kim Jong Un observed the launch and described it as an expression of North Korea’s willingness to respond to external threats to North Korea’s security.

The color and shape of the exhaust flames seen in North Korean state media images of the launch suggest missile use preloaded solid fuel, making weapons more agile and harder to detect than liquid propellants, which generally have to be filled in advance.

But experts say the images show the ICBM and its launcher are both oversized, raising serious questions about their wartime mobility and survivability.

“As missiles get bigger, what happens? The vehicles also get bigger. As the launchers get bigger, their mobility decreases,” Lee Sangmin, an expert at South Korea’s Korea Institute for Defense Analyses.

The Hwasong-19 was estimated to be at least 28 meters long (92 feet), while advanced US and Russian ICBMs are less than 20 meters long (66 feet), said Chang Young-keun, a missile expert at Seoul’s Korea Research Institute for National Strategy. He suggested that the size of the missile probably helped South Korean intelligence agencies discover the launch schedule in advance.

“In the event of a conflict, such exposure makes the weapon a target for a pre-emptive strike by adversaries, so there would be a big question of survivability,” Chang said.

Lee Illwoo, an expert at the Korea Defense Network in South Korea, said North Korea may have developed a larger missile to carry larger and more destructive warheads or multiple warheads. If so, Lee said North Korea could have used liquid fuels, as they generate higher pressure than solid fuels. He said some advanced liquid propellants can be stored in missiles for a few weeks before the launch.

Lee said North Korea may have placed an empty warhead on the Hwasong-19 to make it fly higher.

In recent years, North Korea has reported steady progress in its efforts to acquire nuclear-tipped missiles. Many foreign experts believe North Korea likely has missiles capable of delivering a nuclear strike on all of South Korea, but it does not yet possess nuclear missiles capable of hitting the US mainland

The hurdles it has yet to overcome, according to experts, include ensuring its warheads survive the heat and stress of atmospheric re-entry, improving the guidance systems of the missiles and being able to use multiple warheads on a single missile to defeat missile defenses.

“Acquiring reentry technology is currently the most important goal in North Korea’s missile development, specifically for ICBMs, but they just keep increasing range instead. This may indicate that they still lack confidence in their reentry technology ,” Lee Sangmin said.

Chang said Friday’s state media release about the launch lacked details on the technological aspects of Hawsong-19 and focused on publicity.

Other North Korean claims about their weapons capabilities have been met with widespread outside skepticism.

In June, North Korea claimed to have tested a multiple warhead missile in the first known launch of such a weapon, but South Korea said the weapon detonated instead. In July, when North Korea said it had test-fired a new tactical ballistic missile capable of carrying “a super large warhead,” South Korea said the claim was an attempt to cover up a botched launch.

North Korea’s missile program remains a major regional security concern, with the country openly threatening to use its nuclear missiles against its rivals. In a joint statement Thursday, the foreign ministers of South Korea, the United States and Japan condemned the ICBM launch as a violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions and said they are committed to strengthening their efforts to block North Korea’s illicit revenue generation that funds its missile and nuclear programs.

South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said Friday it has imposed unilateral sanctions on 11 North Korean individuals and four organizations for their alleged roles in procuring missile components and generating foreign currency to finance Pyongyang’s weapons program. The sanctions are largely symbolic given that financial transactions between the Koreas have been suspended for years.

Also on Friday, South Korea and the United States conducted their first joint live-fire exercise using unmanned aerial vehicles as part of efforts to demonstrate their readiness. South Korea’s RQ-4B “Global Hawk” reconnaissance aircraft and the US MQ-9 Reaper attack drone were mobilized for the exercise, according to South Korea’s air force. South Korea and the United States have expanded their regular military exercises to counter North Korea’s evolving nuclear threats.

Observers say Thursday’s launch, the North’s first ICBM test in nearly a year, was largely intended to grab US attention days before the US presidential election and respond to international condemnation of North Korea’s reported deployment of troops to Russia to support its war against Ukraine.

North Korea’s reported troop deployment highlights growing military cooperation between North Korea and Russia. South Korea. The US and others worry that North Korea may seek high-tech, sensitive Russian technology to perfect its nuclear and missile programs in exchange for participating the Russian-Ukrainian War.