North Korea boasts of ‘world’s strongest’ missile, but experts say it’s oversized

With full force: Test launch of new intercontinental ballistic missile ‘Hwasong-19’ in North Korea on Thursday, 31 October 2024. Photo Credit: AP

North Korea claimed on Friday (November 1, 2024) that the new intercontinental ballistic missile it just tested is the “world’s strongest”, a claim that is being seen as pure propaganda as experts It is said to be too large to be useful in a war situation. ,

The ICBM launched on Thursday (Oct. 31, 2024) flew higher and for a longer duration than any other weapon tested by North Korea. But foreign experts say the test failed to show that North Korea has overcome some of the final technological hurdles to achieving a functioning ICBM that could strike the mainland US.

The North’s Korean Central News Agency identified the missile as the Hwasong-19 and called it “the world’s strongest strategic missile” and an “excellent weapon system.” Official media outlets said leader Kim Jong-un observed the launch and called it an expression of North Korea’s resolve to respond to external threats to North Korea’s security.

Missile Features

The color and shape of the exhaust flames seen in North Korean media photos of the launch suggest that the missile uses pre-loaded solid fuel, which makes the warhead more agile and harder to detect than liquid propellant , which normally require pre-fuelling.

But experts say the photos show that both the ICBM and its launch vehicle are oversized, raising serious questions about their wartime mobility and survivability.

“What happens when missiles get bigger? Vehicles also become bigger. As transporter-erector launchers get larger, their mobility decreases,” said Lee Sangmin, an expert at the Korea Institute for Defense Analysis in South Korea.

The Hwasong-19 is estimated to be at least 28 meters long, while advanced American and Russian ICBMs are less than 20 meters long, said Chang Young-kyun, a missile expert at the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy in Seoul. He suggested that the missile’s size would allow South Korean intelligence officials to detect launch plans in advance. “In the event of a conflict, such a display makes the weapon a target for pre-emptive attack by adversaries, so survivability will be a major issue,” Mr. Chang said.

Many foreign experts believe that North Korea probably has missiles that can launch a nuclear attack on all of South Korea, but it does not yet have nuclear missiles that can attack the US mainland.