North Korea has held a military parade and rally on Kim Il Sung Square a day before South Korea holds the opening ceremony for the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics and has displayed two classes of the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) for the first time.
During a military parade, the North Korea’s military publicly displayed for the first time its new Hwasong-14 and Hwasong-15 ICBMs.
The Hwasong-14 missile, also known as alternative US designation codename KN20, was shown in a variant carried by a road-mobile truck. This is a mobile intercontinental ballistic missile developed by North Korea. It had its maiden flight on 4 July 2017, but now it is the first time when this system spotted on the road-mobile truck. Early, North Korea unveiled the Hwasong-14 transported on an off-road capable Wanshan Special Vehicle WS51200 8 axle transporter erector vehicle.
More: South Korea tests new ballistic missile
The Hwasong-15 is a new intercontinental ballistic missile, also known as alternative US designation codename KN22, developed by North Korea. According to a U.S. government source, one of the most notable features of the Hwasong-15, in addition to its sheer size, it is the configuration of its first-stage liquid-propellant engine. Unlike the Hwasong-14, which used a single thrust chamber along with four smaller vernier engines for steering, the Hwasong-15 appeared to used twin-chamber thrusters with no auxiliary engines for steering. Also, a source reported that new missile has a payload from 150 kg to 1,000 kg at a range of 13,000 km.
More: Russian missile division received new Yars intercontinental ballistic missile
Kim Jong Un has publicly declared that Hwasong-14 or Hwasong-15 missiles capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to targets anywhere in the continental United States.
