North Korea’s latest missile launch showed that the county’s military is able to operate weapons from anywhere in the country, not just from a fixed position, satellite images have shown.
The testing of the medium-range Pukguksong-2 missile on Sunday was the latest in a series of launches this year, as Pyongyang steps up its efforts to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to the continental United States.
If North Korea can launch from anywhere, it would be far more difficult for enemies to target launch positions with air strikes, an analysis from 38 North, the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins SAIS, revealed.
It was initially reported in a South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) statement that Sunday’s test took place near Pukchang in Pyeongannam-do (South Pyeongan Province).
But when 38 North analyzed satellite images and video stills of the launch, it appeared that that was not the location of the test.
Despite video showing a lake near the launch, a search of Pukchang County on Google Earth showed no such reservoir in the area.
An inspection of the photos revealed that they were actually taken from Lake Yonphung, a small residual exhaust plume in an area west of Pukchang County, about 12 miles (20km) outside the border.
This is believed to be the first time the lake has been used for test launches. Less than two miles away is a DPRK leadership lakefront villa that is off limits to North Korean residents.
‘By using this site, North Korea’s Strategic Forces demonstrated their ability to operate from anywhere in the country, not just fixed launch positions,’ 38 North said.
It continued: ‘Such activities also build operational experience and unit capabilities with the system, while indicating an evolving military doctrine.
‘It is interesting to note that the Pukguksong-2 has only been tested within 75 km of known missile facilities and the No. 9 Factory.’
The state-run Korean Central News Agency said on Monday that the North’s leader Kim Jong-Un oversaw Sunday’s launch, which sparked a fresh chorus of international condemnation and threats of tougher sanctions.
The launches, and a threatened sixth nuclear test, have fuelled tension with the Trump administration, which has warned that military intervention was an option under consideration, sending fears of conflict spiralling.
The latest missile tested was the Pukguksong-2, which uses solid fuel that allows for immediate firing, KCNA said.
So far almost all the North’s missiles have been liquid-fuelled, which have to be time-consumingly filled with propellant before launch.
Solid fuel missiles can be fired far more rapidly, dramatically shortening the time available for any attempt to intervene and prevent a launch.
Kim said ‘with pride’ that the Pukguksong-2 was a ‘very accurate’ missile and a ‘successful strategic weapon’, KCNA said, adding he ‘approved the deployment of this weapon system for action’.
The launch ‘completely verified’ the reliability and accuracy of the device, and its late-stage warhead guidance system, KCNA said, adding the test results were ‘perfect’.
Images carried by the Rodong Sinmun — the official mouthpiece of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea — showed a smiling Kim clapping surrounded by his aides in an outdoor observation post as the missile shot up into the air.
It also had several pictures of the Earth said to have been taken from the rocket from space — the first such pictures released by the North.
Kim ‘said he was very happy to see pictures of the Earth taken by our rocket and that the world looks beautiful’, KCNA said, adding that he ordered the missile to be ‘rapidly mass-produced’.
Seoul military officials have previously said the Pukguksong-2 — a land-based version of Pyongyang’s submarine-launched weapon — uses solid fuel.
The missile, which was described by Washington as medium-range, was fired from Pukchang in South Phyongan province and travelled about 500 kilometres (310 miles) before landing in the Sea of Japan, according to the South’s armed forces.
The rocket used a cold-launch system, KCNA said.
The technology uses compressed gas to propel a missile upwards before its engine ignites in mid-air. It is considered safer and also makes it easier to hide the launch location.
The UN Security Council on Monday vowed to push all countries to tighten sanctions against North Korea as it prepared for a closed-door meeting called in response to the latest missile launch.
In a unanimous statement backed by China, Pyongyang’s ally, the council strongly condemned the test-firing on Sunday and instructed the UN sanctions committee to redouble efforts to implement a raft of tough measures adopted last year.
The council also agreed to ‘take further significant measures including sanctions’ to force North Korea to change course and end its ‘highly destabilizing behavior’.
The US-drafted statement was agreed on the eve of the emergency meeting requested by the United States, Japan and South Korea to discuss a course of action on North Korea.
The United States has for weeks been negotiating a new Security Council sanctions resolution with China, but US Ambassador Nikki Haley said last week that no final draft text had been clinched.
‘This is the same movie that keeps playing. He continues to test. We’ve got to do action,’ Haley told MSNBC television.
‘You know, some say, oh, but sanctions haven’t worked. First of all, when the entire international community speaks with one voice, it does work,’ she countered.
‘It lets them know that they are on an island and we’re all against them and that they need to correct their behavior.’
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