South Korea and the United States have announced that the ballistic missiles launched twice by North Korea are being evaluated as part of the test-fire of a new intercontinental ballistic missile disguised as a space launch vehicle.
The Ministry of National Defense said that the ballistic missiles launched by North Korea on the 27th and 5th of this month were evaluated as related to the new ICBM system that was first unveiled and developed by North Korea in the wake of the military parade on the founding day of the Workers' Party of Korea on October 10, 2020, as a result of a detailed analysis by South Korea and the US. I did.
The Ministry of National Defense then determined that although the recent two test launches did not reach the range of the ICBM, North Korea was intending to test its performance ahead of the maximum-range test launch of the missile disguised as a space launch vehicle.
The new ICBM mentioned by the Ministry of National Defense is the 'Hwasong-17', which was first unveiled at the military parade on the founding day of the party in October 2020.
North Korea announced that it was part of a 'reconnaissance satellite development' test without mentioning 'missiles' or taking pictures of the projectiles in public reports related to the launch twice.
(Photo = Yonhap News)