North Korea unveils record number of missiles — RT World News
New ICBMs were displayed at a military parade in Pyongyang marking 75 years since the founding of the DPRK’s military
North Korea flexed its muscle again, with a display in its capital Pyongyang on Wednesday of what experts quickly observed was the largest number of intercontinental ballistic missiles it has ever paraded. The military force show featured eleven of its new Hwasong-17 rockets.
The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Thursday that the “grandwas organized to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the DPRK army.
The country’s Supreme Leader, Kim Jong-un, followed the proceedings with his wife Ri Sol-ju and their daughter Kim Ju-ae.
From “state-of-the-art military equipmentfeatured in the parade were what KCNA described as “tactical nuclear weapons operations units.”
They were followed by the Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), which according to state media represent the “formidable nuclear strike capability of the DPRK.”
The message to all potential enemies was a “nuclear for [a] nuke and total confrontation for total confrontation,“says the report.
Pyongyang carried out the first known test of the Hwasong-17 in 2022.
Taking to Twitter on Thursday, Ankit Panda of the US-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace argued that “that’s cumulatively more ICBM launchers than we’ve ever seen before on a North Korean parade.”
Need to see the video, but it looks like 10-12 Hwasong-17 ICBMs have appeared. That’s cumulatively more ICBM launchers than we’ve ever seen before on a North Korean parade. pic.twitter.com/B9IQwK0HG6
— Ankit Panda (@nktpnd) February 9, 2023
Assessing the photos published by KCNA, news outlet Politico media warned that North Korea now appears to have enough missiles to “theoretically overwhelm the United States’ defense against them.”
According to Politico estimates, the United States has a total of 44 interceptors on the ground to destroy a possible incoming North Korean ICBM. However, if the DPRK’s missiles can carry four warheads, their number would exceed the number of US defenses, the report points out.
The article goes on to describe this week’s parade as a “provocative display” which highlights the “astonishing military progress and Western failures to get the Kim ruling family to part with their guns.”
Some Western experts have also paid close attention to what they believe to be a prototype or mock-up of a new solid-fuel ICBM.
While the DPRK has so far relied on missiles that must be filled with liquid fuel at a launch site, the country has been looking for some time to develop an alternative to solid fuel.
If North Korea is successful, its military will have rockets that don’t require cumbersome refueling processes before launch, making them harder for an enemy to spot during conflict.
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