Though North Korea made no direct mention of the fifth anniversary of its declared “completion” of its nuclear force on Monday, inside North Korea, there is widespread celebration of the level of development of the country’s nuclear delivery systems, especially the recently launched Hwasong-17 ICBM.
A high-ranking source inside North Korea said last Wednesday that the authorities believe the development and testing of powerful new rocket engines was so successful that a seventh nuclear test to miniaturize nuclear warheads is no longer so urgent.
According to the source, the Academy of National Defense Science and the Central Committee’s Defense Industry Department believe they improved the power of the country’s ICBM engines and acquired reentry technology through the Hwasong-17 test.
The Academy of National Defense Science and Defense Industry Department think they have finally developed engines with enough power to deliver one of North Korea’s current batch of nuclear warheads to the US mainland.
When North Korean leader Kim Jong Un — accompanied by his wife Ri Sol Ju and daughter Kim Ju Ae — observed the test launch of the Hwasong-17 on Nov. 18, the Rodong Sinmun and other North Korean media outlets announced that the missile “traveled up to a maximum altitude of 6, 040.9 km and flew a distance of 999.2 km for 4,135s.”
This could mean that if fired at a normal angle, the missile could fly over 15,000 kilometers, putting the entire US in its target range.
Some North Koreans also believe that a missile with six of the new engines attached could carry a payload of several nuclear warheads even without miniaturizing them.
North Korea must carry out a seventh nuclear test to create miniaturized nuclear warheads of around 100 kilograms to put atop the Hwasong-19, a multiple warhead missile.
However, with the successful development of the Hwasong-17’s engines, some North Koreans are saying a nuclear test “is no longer urgent.”
Basically, they believe the missile could carry two or more of North Korea’s existing warheads, which weigh 500 to 6000 kilograms.
In particular, the North Korean authorities believe they have even successfully acquired atmospheric reentry technology with the Hwasong-17 accurately landing at its intended destination during the test.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff announced that the missile reached a maximum speed of Mach 22, or 22 times the speed of sound.
Anything over Mach 20 is usually considered good enough for an ICBM, but given that North Korea fired the Hwasong-17 at a high angle rather than a normal one in the latest test, some experts say the country has yet to prove its reentry technology.
Inside North Korea, however, people believe they have not only acquired reentry technology, but that they have improved their precision guidance technology to very high degree, too, improving their accuracy to 500 to 700 meters.
Kim reportedly gave the developers at the Academy of National Defense Science and Defense Industry Department some hearty congratulations, too.
North Korea promoted the military figures who contributed to the development and launch of the Hwasong-17, and awarded the transporter erector launcher (TEL) a medal and the title of hero, an extraordinary honor for a non-human.
When asked about the seventh nuclear test, the source told Daily NK that North Korea will “proceed according to the timetable, regardless of the success of engine tests or the launch of the Hwasong-17.”
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