SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Two days after North Korea test-launched its most powerful missile to date, a clearer picture is emerging of Pyongyang’s impressive technological achievement — and what still remains before it can legitimately threaten the continental United States.
Many questions remain, but there’s broad agreement from government and outside analyses that the huge Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile represents a significant step forward, putting the North very close to its goal of a viable arsenal of nuclear-tipped long-range missiles — maybe as early as the middle of next year.
The two-stage liquid-fuel missile fired Wednesday is potentially capable of striking targets as far as 8,100 miles, which would put Washington within reach, South Korea’s Defense Ministry said Friday in a report to lawmakers. It’s also considerably larger than North Korea’s previous ICBM, the Hwasong-14, and designed to deliver larger warheads, the ministry said. That would seem to confirm the North’s boast after the launch that the Hwasong-15 can carry “super-large heavy nuclear warheads.”
Michael Elleman, an analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said it appears that the Hwasong-15 can deliver a 2,200 pound payload to any point on the U.S. mainland. North Korea, which has so far conducted six nuclear tests, has almost certainly developed a nuclear warhead that weighs less than 1,543 pounds, if not one considerably lighter, Elleman wrote Friday on the 38 North website .