🇰🇵 Pyongyang has confirmed that it had tested its Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). The Thursday launch was North Korea’s first ICBM test since 2017. Japan said that if Pyongyang launched the missile along a conventional trajectory, it could have flown 15,000 km (9,320 miles), reaching any point on US soil.
Kwa sababu unazojua peke yako umeleta habari hii hapa. Basi ni feki. Kim alishindwa kurusha roketi mpya, iliyopasuka hewani. Ili aweze kuonyesha mafanikio, walijaribu kuficha mlipuko na kurusha tena modeli ya Kwasong 15 inayojulikana tangu 2017. Video ilichanganya picha za dikteta Kim wakati wa jaribio lililoshindikana pamoja na kuruka kwa Kwasong-15 siku kadhaa baadaye.
Seoul Says North Korea Didn’t Test Hwasong-17 ICBM After All
South Korea’s Defense Ministry said the missile launched on March 24 was not Pyongyang’s new Hwasong-17 ICBM, but the older Hwasong-15.
North Korea claims that it successfully
tested its new Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which first appeared in a military parade in October 2020, on March 24, eight days after another suspected ballistic missile blew up immediately after liftoff.
However, the South Korean Defense Ministry says what the North tested on March 24 was not the Hwasong-17, but the Hwasong-15.
In a closed briefing to the National Assembly, the Defense Ministry reported to lawmakers that the missile launched on March 24 seems more like the Hwasong-15 than the Hwasong-17 based on the ministry’s analysis of the performance of the missile and video footage released by the North’s state media on March 25.
In the heavily edited video released by the North’s state media a day after its ICBM test, the missile launch was conducted under clear skies. However, the Sunan area, near Pyongyang, was cloudy on March 24. In this context, Seoul suspects that the missile launch captured in the video might be scenes from the failed missile test on March 16.
Also, the directions of the shadows in the video seem to suggest the footage was taken in the morning. The launch on March 24 was taken in the afternoon; the failed missile test on March 16 was conducted in the morning.
Based on these points, Seoul believes that the North’s claim that it successfully tested its new Hwasong-17 ICBM on March 24 is deceptive.
Why would North Korea claim that it successfully tested its new Hwasong-17 ICBM if it actually tested the Hwasong-15?
Ha Tae-keung, a lawmaker of the People Power Party, told reporters on Tuesday that the failed launch on March 16 caused civilian damage. Ha said that fragments of the exploded missile might have rained down on Pyongyang. As it was reported that the missile exploded at an altitude of less than 20 kilometers on March 16, Pyongyang citizens might have witnessed the event and seen or experience damage caused by falling debris, Ha said.
North Korea might have been trying to save face with both its own people and the international community by claiming a landmark achievement on March 24: the first successful launch of a brand-new missile.
A U.S. official also delivered a similar analysis to
the Washington Post, saying that the North’s latest missile launch appeared to be a “modified version of the Hwasong-15,” which was the last ICBM that the North tested in November 2017. Although the missile flew higher and farther than the Hwasong-15 launched in 2017, U.S. officials agree with Seoul that North Korea did not test its Hwasong-17 ICBM last week.
North Korea has not responded yet to Seoul and Washington’s skepticism toward its claimed Hwasong-17 ICBM test.