North Korea signals a more powerful ICBM in the works
24 Aug 2017 5:41 PM GMT
SEOUL: With photographs obliquely showing a new rocket design, North Korea has sent a message that it is working on an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) more powerful than any it has previously tested, weapons experts said on Thursday.
If developed, such a missile could possibly reach any place on the US mainland, including Washington and New York, they said.
North Korea's state media published photographs late on Wednesday of leader Kim Jong Un standing next to a diagram of a three-stage rocket it called the Hwasong-13. Missile experts, who carefully examine such pictures for clues about North Korea's weapons programmes, said there is no indication that the rocket has been fully developed. In any case, it had not been flight tested and it was impossible to calculate its potential range, they said.
However, a three-stage rocket would be more powerful than the two-stage Hwasong-14 ICBM tested on two occasions in July, they said. South Korean and US officials and experts have said the Hwasong-14 possibly had a range of about 10,000 km.
Next Story
