OPINION:
The hermit regime of Kim Jong-un declared this week that the North Korean military will soon test an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM)that could threaten the United States and its allies anywhere in the world.
“The bottom line is Pyongyang is much further along in their missile development than most people realize,” said Melissa Hanham, a senior research associate at the U.S.-based Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, California, reports Reuters.
Hanman focused on the recent test of a liquid-fueled rocket engine as proof of this emerging capability for the North. “The liquid engine test was astounding,” Hanham said.
“For years, we knew that North Korea had a Soviet R-27 missile engine design. They re-engineered the design of that engine to double its propulsion.”
Recent propaganda from the communist government intentionally released sensitive, military information. “They’re answering the public criticisms of U.S. experts,” said Joshua Pollack, editor of the U.S.-based Non proliferation Review. “A lot of people had questioned whether they had a working ICBM-class heat shield.
“So they showed us.”
“North Korea is working hard to develop cold-launch technology and atmospheric re-entry but South Korea and the U.S. will have to assess further exactly which level of development they have reached,” said South Korean defense ministry official Roh Jae-cheon.
“2016 marked the year North Korea truly ramped up their WMD [weapons of mass destruction] program,” Hanham added.
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