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North Korean weapons launch showed off vital piece of Kim Jong Un’s ambitions
2021-09-29 00:00:00.0     铸币报-政治     原网页

       

       In January, Kim Jong Un outlined the ambitions for a new five-year weapons strategy, promising technology the world has never seen. The aim, he said, was to place North Korea’s war-fighting capabilities and deterrence “on the highest level."

       On Wednesday, North Korean state media confirmed that a pillar of Mr. Kim’s plan had gotten its first public showcase.

       A North Korean weapons launch detected a day earlier had been a new hypersonic missile, with a fuel system that makes deployment faster and more mobile, Pyongyang’s state media reported. Sharing a name with the country’s lineup of longer-range weapons, the hypersonic missile was dubbed “Hwasong-8." It was among the five most urgent tasks demanded by the North’s new strategic weapon policy.

       Pyongyang’s new weapon, though, appears to be an early stage of development, requiring considerable time before being ready for deployment, Seoul’s military said in a Wednesday assessment. The weapon can be detected and intercepted by South Korean and U.S. military forces, it added.

       Hypersonic missiles generally can fly a mile per second, traveling about five times the speed of sound. The North’s hypersonic missile can be steered, with state media reporting that scientists had confirmed “navigational control" capabilities. The missile also appears designed to eventually become nuclear capable, weapons experts say.

       If honed, a North Korean hypersonic missile that can be maneuvered is harder to shoot down because it doesn’t follow a simple trajectory, said Bruce Bennett, a senior defense analyst at Rand Corp., a think tank based in Santa Monica, Calif.

       “Thus a hypersonic missile is likely very difficult, if not impossible, for U.S. missile defense deployed in Korea to intercept," Mr. Bennett said.

       The Kim regime has conducted three separate weapons tests in recent weeks after months of inaction. Pyongyang has defended the activity as exercising its rights to national defense.

       North Korea, battling the pandemic and food shortages, has expended much effort confronting domestic affairs this year. It has brushed off outreach by the Biden administration and South Korea.

       But the uptick in weapons tests signifies less a Pyongyang reaction to Washington or Seoul’s foreign policy, but rather a follow through on Mr. Kim’s promises for military advances, said Gordon Flake, a Korea specialist at the Perth USAsia Centre in Australia.

       “I am less persuaded than before that there is a North Korean provocation cycle playbook," Mr. Flake said. “This is just North Korea proceeding with their logical process of weapons development and testing. They test because it’s part of their process."

       Nuclear talks between North Korea and the U.S. remain gridlocked. Pyongyang has reiterated that it is uninterested in diplomacy until Washington and Seoul drop their “hostile policy" toward the impoverished country—a list that has come to include combined military exercises, economic sanctions and the U.S. security ring in the Pacific.

       In recent days, Kim Yo Jong, the dictator’s sister, has suggested that Pyongyang has some openness to reviving inter-Korean ties, if Seoul demonstrates mutual respect and impartiality. South Korea can play a bigger role in jump-starting denuclearization talks, though only if Washington and Pyongyang are first willing to take incremental steps to build trust, said Jessica J. Lee, a Korea specialist at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, a Washington-based think tank.

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       In his January speech, Mr. Kim gave an unusually detailed account of the military hardware under development, including a reference to “supersonic gliding flight warheads." The North Korean leader also mentioned progress on a nuclear submarine and a multi-warhead rocket. Much of the weaponry was rolled out during a January military parade.

       The North’s two other tests this month featured lower-flying cruise missiles designed to evade defense radar, as well as short-range missiles that were launched from a train.

       Mr. Kim wasn’t reported to have attended the Tuesday launch. But a senior North Korean military official, Pak Jong Chon, praised the strategic importance of the hypersonic missile, state media reported. Mr. Pak also noted a planned shift to the use of a fuel system that had been used on certain Soviet long-range missiles in the past.

       The method, known as ampulization, involves the use of a sealed fuel tank built into the missile and filled at the factory, said Scott LaFoy, a ballistic-missile and nuclear-weapons specialist at Exiger Federal Solutions, a risk-management firm. The technique could be adapted for the North’s long-range missiles, saving critical hours in launch preparation, he added.

       Fueling an ICBM manually would require either dozens of support trucks or burying fuel tanks at pre-surveyed launch positions.

       “Both of these increase the likelihood that adversarial intelligence will detect the missile," Mr. LaFoy said, “reducing the chance that the missile will survive the opening hours of a conflict."

       This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text

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标签:政治
关键词: Kim Jong Un     Korean state media     missile     Premium     missiles     Pyongyang     weapons    
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