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The ICBM, Hwasong-15, are seen in a military parade marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People’s Army at Kim Il-sung Square in Pyongyang in February 2018. KCNA-Yonhap via The Korea Herald / Asia News Network
SEOUL – The intelligence services of South Korea and the United States have detected North Korea moving an ICBM, along with four mobile launchers, at an auto plant outside Pyongyang, a Seoul official told a news outlet. local on Saturday.
“The missile is larger than the one they fired in 2017 and we believe they would display it in a military parade on October 10,” the official said. North Korea fired its first ICBM, Hwasong-15, in 2017 and appears to be putting on a show of force on the anniversary of the founding of its ruling party.
Speculation continues to rage about North Korea’s introduction of a more advanced ICBM, with some experts expressing reservations that the isolated country could not have assembled newer technologies without outside help under UN-led sanctions.
The Seoul official added that Pyongyang could unveil a new submarine-launched ballistic missile as well as an upgraded submarine, pointing to intelligence that detected signs of the activity involving the latest development at the North Sinpo South Shipyard along the east coast.
Meanwhile, 38 North, a website that monitors North Korea, said on Friday that the North’s short-range ballistic missiles remain vulnerable to interception by the South’s anti-missile systems.
“North Korea’s KN-23 and KN-24 missiles are no better at evading detection by long-range radars than their Scud-type counterparts,” Michael Elleman, director of non-proliferation at the International Institute of Proliferation, wrote on the website. Strategic Studies.
He was referring to Pyongyang’s short-range ballistic missiles that were intercepted by Seoul’s missile shield and the Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense systems.
Seoul maintains a missile defense network where the Patriot detects missiles flying at low altitudes and the THAAD shoots them down at high altitudes. The THAAD has much longer-range radars than the Patriot for tracking missiles.
Short-range missiles, which fly at low altitudes, are launched outside the range that the Patriot identifies for incoming fire, but the THAAD can instruct the Patriot to scan where the threat is suspected to appear in the sky to thwart hostile fire, according to Elleman. .
But those missiles can maneuver their entire trajectory, which could affect the interception process, he added.
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