North Korea has new intermediate-range missile: US source

WASHINGTON (AFP) Sep 11, 2003
North Korea has developed a new intermediate-range ballistic missile capable of striking neighboring countries but not the United States, a well-informed US government source disclosed late Wednesday.

The new weapon was described as a step-up from Scud and No Dong-type missiles, the mainstays of Pyongyang's arsenal, which are based on old Soviet-era technology and often lack accuracy.

But details about the new missile were scarce as US intelligence agencies continued to assess the system and search for more information.

"The North Koreans have developed a new mobile intermediate-range ballistic missile," the source told AFP on condition of anonymity. "And it's different than the Taepo Dong," which Pyongyang fired into the Sea of Japan in 1998.

The source said the new missile was land-based, did not have the range to reach the United States, and was designed "to complement" North Korea's existing arsenal.

A missile is normally classified as intermediate if it has a range of between 500 and 5,500 kilometers (310-3,410 miles).

Earlier reports that the weapon was fashioned after an old Soviet submarine-launched missile, the SSN-6 Sawfly, could not be confirmed.

The Pentagon would not confirm or deny the report late Wednesday.

The South Korea newspaper Chosun Ilbo reported Monday that the new missile had a range of up to 4,000 kilometres (2,500 miles), which is longer than the Taepo Dong-1.

Some North Korea watchers expected it to be shown during Tuesday's celebrations in Pyongyang marking the 55th anniversary of the Stalinist state. But no military hardware was put on display in Pyongyang during the festivities.

If the missile's characteristics are confirmed, its deployment will represent a major boost for North Korea's arsenal, which at the moment consists primarily of several variations of aging Scud missiles and the 1,300-kilometer-range (806-mile) No Dong, which, according to the CIA, remains the longest-range ballistic missile Pyongyang has actually deployed.

In 1998, the Taepo Dong-1, outfitted with a solid-propellant third stage, was able to deliver a satellite into an elliptical orbit ranging from 219 to 6,978 kilometers (136-4,326 miles) above the Earth.

But it is its successor -- the Taepo Dong-2 - that is generating the most concern in the United States.

"The multiple-stage Taepo Dong-2 -- capable of reaching parts of the United States with a nuclear weapon-sized payload - may be ready for flight-testing," the US Central Intelligence warned in a recent report.

The agency pointed out that in its traditional two-stage configuration, the Taepo Dong-2 could deliver a several-hundred-kilogram payload to Alaska, Hawaii and parts of the continental United States.

But with an add-on third stage, the Taepo Dong-2 would be capable of lobbing a warhead into all of North America, the CIA said.

Pyongyang insists it already has nuclear weapons, a claim the US intelligence community does not refute, saying it is possible North Korea has one or two warheads.

SPACE.WIRE