New North Korean Long-Range Missile Absent From Military Parade

A reported new North Korean long-range ballistic missile was not displayed in a military parade yesterday in Pyongyang held to mark the country’s 55th birthday, Channel NewsAsia reported today (see GSN, Sept. 9).

South Korean defense analysts had expected North Korea to unveil the new missile during yesterday’s parade, rather than test launch it, which could have further destabilized U.S.-North Korean relations, according to Channel News Asia.  A Western diplomat in Pyongyang, however, said there were no new missiles displayed in the parade.

“No new missiles, only soldiers, no (military) hardware,” the diplomat said.  “It was a pretty normal, run-of-the-mill parade as far as I could see.  Nothing special,” the diplomat added (Channel NewsAsia, Sept. 9).

Meanwhile, a Russian defense expert today dismissed reports that North Korea had developed a new long-range missile, according to ITAR-Tass.

“According to experience of the former Soviet Union and the United States, the creation of a missile of this kind must be preceded by a considerable cycle of flying tests,” said Vladimir Dvorkin, a senior adviser at the Russian Center of Political Studies.  “It should be taken into account that nearly half of the first 10 launches end in accidents, which are perfectly recorded by space means,” he said (Anatoly Yurkin, ITAR-Tass, Sept. 9).

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North Korea May Be Ready to Show Long-Range Missile

The South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo reported today that North Korea has developed a new long-range ballistic missile, according to the Associated Press (see GSN, Aug. 6).

The new missile, which has not yet been deployed, has a range of 1,850 miles to 2,470 miles, the newspaper quoted a South Korean official as saying.  If correct, the missile would be more powerful than North Korea’s Taepodong 1 missile, AP reported (Soo-jeong Lee, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Sept. 8).

Defense analysts have said that North Korea is trying to develop a more-advanced version of the Taepodong, according to Reuters.  The Chosun Ilbo reported, however, that the new long-range missile was different from the Taepodong 2.

The new missile may be displayed during a North Korean military parade scheduled to occur tomorrow to mark the 55th anniversary of the founding of the country, according to Reuters.

“We still don’t have information on how different this missile is or what may happen at the parade tomorrow,” a South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said (Martin Nesirky, Reuters/Yahoo!News, Sept. 8).

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