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North Korea
This Week in AsiaPolitics

Is North Korea set to become world’s ‘fourth ICBM power’ after missile breakthrough?

Analysts speculate Russia is providing technical assistance to help Pyongyang perfect multi-warhead missiles capable of striking the US

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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un oversees a ground jet test of a high-thrust solid-fuel engine using composite carbon fibre material at an undisclosed location in North Korea on Tuesday. Photo: KCNA/EPA
Park Chan-kyong
A new era in North Korea’s missile programme may be dawning, as analysts warn of an imminent test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying multiple warheads to the US mainland.
Fresh from his appearance at China’s Victory Day parade in Beijing last week, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un personally oversaw the trial of a lighter, more robust solid-fuel ICBM engine, state media reported on Tuesday, touting the achievement as a “strategic” breakthrough.

Reportedly built with advanced carbon-fibre composites, the high-thrust engine “heralds a significant change in expanding and strengthening the nuclear strategic forces” of North Korea, Kim declared, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency.

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He described the test as “a success assuming the most strategic nature in the recent modernisation of defence technology”.

Kim Jong-un inspects a missile production line at an undisclosed location in this picture released on September 1. Photo: KCNA/Reuters
Kim Jong-un inspects a missile production line at an undisclosed location in this picture released on September 1. Photo: KCNA/Reuters

The development marks a potential watershed in North Korea’s missile programme. Pyongyang’s references to a ninth and “final” test point to the imminent debut of a new ICBM – possibly the Hwasong-20 – according to Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.

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