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This year, North Korea fired 39 missiles.

In particular, last month, it also launched an intercontinental ballistic missile called 'Hwasong-17'.



With a length of 24m and the estimation that the entire United States is in range, it is called the 'Monster ICBM'. Reporter Jin Song-min comprehensively covered the analysis of experts.



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North Korea's 'Hwasong-17' ICBM recorded an altitude of more than 6,000 km and a range of 1,000 km in a test launch on the 18th of last month.



The ICBM's normal trajectory is like this, but unlike him, it was launched at a high angle.



[Hong Min/Director of the North Korea Research Office at the Institute for National Unification: The shot fired in November (at an elevation angle), if calculated at a normal angle, (projectile range) comes out to be 15,000 km.]



The shortest distance from Pyongyang to Washington, DC is 10,000. 1 thousand km.



Since this is a route through the North Pole, North Korea needs a range of 15,000 km to bypass Alaska, where the missile defense network is dense, and put the entire United States in range.



[Jang Young-geun/Professor of Aerospace Mechanical Engineering, Korea Aerospace University: Warhead weight, the heavier the weight on top, the less range it has.

What I analyzed is that if you put about 2.5t (warhead), that (range) only goes 11,000, 12,000 km.

Even if you attach four (Baekdu) engines like that.]



ICBMs soar into space and then reenter the atmosphere, and they have to endure the tremendous heat of 8,000 degrees generated at this time.





Contrails photographed by Japan Self-Defense Force fighter jets near the North Korean ICBM drop site.



[Hong Min/Director, North Korea Research Office, Institute for National Unification: (ICBM enters the atmosphere) It shouldn't smoke like that when entering.

That smoke comes out means it burns.

The re-entry technology has not yet been secured.]



[Ryu Seong-yeop/Information Analyst, 21st Century Military Research Institute: It may have left traces of it because it is enduring heat well.

It's not a video that clearly shows how it passed.] It's



difficult to evaluate precisely because it's a high-angle launch.



[Lee Sang-min/Director of North Korean Military Research, Korea Institute for National Defense: It doesn't go diagonally (like the normal angle) (into the atmosphere), but when re-entering (at an elevation angle), it comes in almost vertically.

It is difficult to conclude that reentry technology has been secured unless it is tested similar to the actual situation.]



Whether it can mount multiple warheads and when it will convert fuel from liquid to solid is considered a mystery.



Amid the growing missile threat from North Korea, the USFK has established a space force unit to detect and track missiles outside the atmosphere.



(Video coverage: Kim Hyun-sang, screen source: YouTube 'bRd 3D')