Kim Jong-un Successfully Tests ‘Nuclear Missile’ That Can Travel 2,500 Miles

Kim Jong-un has two problems to solve in his quest to be a nuclear power. One is developing a nuclear weapon small enough that it will fit on a missile. The other problem is developing the missile that will deliver that warhead to the desired location. While information on his progress in building a bomb is sketchy, it’s obvious that he can now hit targets 2,500 miles away with a missile North Korea has developed and just successfully tested.

The missile travelled more than 400 miles before crashing into the Sea of Japan just off the Russian coast, according to the state-backed North Korean Central News Agency and South Korean analysts.

Hwasong-12, an intermediate-range ballistic missile, has the longest range of any weapon successfully tested by Kim’s regime, with officials estimating it has a maximum range of 2,500 miles.

Either Kim was just engaging in his typical hyperbole in the following remark, or his geography is very bad.

Kim claims the new weapon puts the United States mainland within ‘sighting range for strike’, though Los Angeles is located around 5,000 miles from the launch site used on Sunday.

So the thing can make it half way to the U.S. mainland. Hence, he cannot hit us as of yet. He can’t even make it to Hawaii yet.

But there still remains the obvious problem that North Korea is making progress. Other nations have figured out how to make nuclear bombs and ICBMs, so there’s no reason to think scientists and engineers in North Korea cannot do the same. It’s just a matter of time. How much time, we don’t know.

Since Kim cannot shove his nuclear bomb into an airplane and drop it over a U.S. city, the development and the deployment of ICBMs are crucial to his plans.

North Korea is believed to be developing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and reaching the mainland United States.

The U.S. military’s Pacific Command said the type of missile that was fired was ‘not consistent with an intercontinental ballistic missile’.

So the missile just tested isn’t an ICBM, but the organization 38 North offers a stark warning.

Washington-based monitoring project 38 North said: ‘North Korea’s latest successful missile test represents a level of performance never before seen from a North Korean missile’

‘It appears to have not only demonstrated an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) that might enable them to reliably strike the U.S. base at Guam, but more importantly, may represent a substantial advance to developing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).’

So North Korea is making progress. If they have developed a nuclear bomb that will fit in the missile just tested, anywhere within 2,500 miles of North Korea is vulnerable. Even if they have not yet developed a suitable nuclear bomb, other non-conventional weapons could be placed in such a missile until they do.

So the ultimate question is whether North Korea would strike first with nuclear weapons, or only hold them for use in retaliation to another country’s first strike.

If it is thought that the North would engage in a first strike, the matter is grave indeed. It would indicate that the world is dealing with an irrational nation-state that would be willing to launch an attack that would result in its own utter and complete destruction.

Perhaps Mr. Kim will think it over and decide he’s got it pretty good as dictator and that maybe the notoriety of being the first nation to hit the U.S. with a nuke just isn’t worth ruining it all. In which case his selfishness and self-preoccupation would work to everyone’s advantage.

Source: Daily Mail

Image: Rodong Sinmun