North Korea’s missile launches becoming more undetectable and threatening – analysts

Record ID: 1692724

  • Title: North Korea’s missile launches becoming more undetectable and threatening – analysts
  • Date: 11th October 2022
  • Summary: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (OCTOBER 11, 2022) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Korean) PROFESSOR OF THE KYONGGI UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL OF POLITICS, MOON KEUN-SIK, SAYING: “As far as I know, it (a missile launch from a reservoir) is the first time (in the world). Many call it ‘SLBM (Submarine-launched ballistic missile)’, but it is not a submarine launched missile because it is not launched from a submarine. I’d like to say North Korea has developed a new missile dubbed ‘ULBM’ which means ‘Underwater Launched Ballistic Missile’.”
  • Embargoed: 25th October 2022 12:02
  • Keywords: Kim Jong Un North Korea Pyongyang South Korea analyst missiles nuclear reservoir the United States
  • Location: UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION, YONGBYON, NORTH KOREA / SEOUL, GOYANG, PYEONGTAEK, SOUTH KOREA
  • City: UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION, YONGBYON, NORTH KOREA / SEOUL, GOYANG, PYEONGTAEK, SOUTH KOREA
  • Country: South Korea
  • Topics: Asia / Pacific,Conflicts/War/Peace
  • Reuters ID: LVA002139711102022RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: North Korea's recent flurry of missile tests were more threatening than before as they were more difficult for enemies to detect, analysts said.
    The photos released by North Korea’s official news agency KCNA on Monday (October 10) notably showed a test of a "navalised" KN-23 designed to be launched from a submarine.
    That missile was showcased in a test in the ocean last year, but this time the test was conducted in a way that simulated a launch from what state media called "a silo under a reservoir."
    “It is the first time (in the world),” said submarine expert Moon Keun-sik, a professor of the Kyonggi University Graduate School of Politics.
    North Korea recently test-fired missiles from different locations and launch-platforms including trains, in what analysts said were an effort to incapacitate the detection system of South Korea and the United States.
    “It’s very threatening since we don’t know which reservoir it will fly from,” the retired Navy colonel Moon added.
    On October 4, North Korea test-fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) farther than ever before, flying over Japan for the first time since 2017.
    Director of Global Surveillance Research Center and professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at Korea Aerospace University, Chang Young-Keun, said he believed that an engine used in the IRBM has been renewed.
    “I believe that there might have been some sort of engine improvement (in the intermediate-range ballistic missile). Before, they used the one that divides twin engines but now it seems they have newly developed one of these parts, such as a turbopump,” Chang said.
    North Korean leader Kim Jong Un guided exercises by nuclear tactical units in the past two weeks, involving ballistic missiles with mock nuclear warheads, KCNA reported on Monday (October 10).
    Analysts said putting small warheads on short-range missiles could represent a dangerous change in the way North Korea deploys and plans to use nuclear weapons.
    (Production: Dogyun Kim, Daewoung Kim, Hyeyeon Kim, Hanna Song, Hyunyoung Yi)
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