North Korea might proceed with an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch as early as November following the deployment of a mobile launcher, South Korean officials warned on Wednesday.
Citing information from military intelligence, South Korean parliamentarians revealed that North Korea appears prepared to test the ballistic missiles, also known as ICBM, and its atmospheric re-entry capabilities.
During a briefing, MP Lee Seong-kweun disclosed that a mobile launcher has been positioned at a possible test site, with timing speculated to coincide with the USpresidential election on 5 November, reported Reuters.
Mr Lee was briefing reporters after a closed-door parliamentary hearing with DIA officials.
“Preparations of a transporter-erector launcher (TEL) are complete and it’s deployed at a specific location and an ICBM launch for technological verification of warhead re-entry could take place, with a timing targeting the US presidential election, either before or after, in November,” he said.
Another MP, Park Sun-won, clarified that while the launcher is in place, the defence intelligence agency does not believe that a missile has yet been loaded in it.
South Korean defence officials have suggested that North Korea could use this period of heightened global attention to conduct either a long-range missile test or potentially its seventh nuclear test to underscore its advancing strategic capabilities.
North Korea has performed a series of ICBM test launches at a sharply steep trajectory to let the projectiles drop within much shorter distances relative to the designed range, partly for safety and to avoid the political fallout of sending a missile far into the Pacific.
But a launch with a flatter, standard trajectory is considered essential for ICBM development to ensure the warhead is capable of making a re-entry into the atmosphere while maintaining control to hit an intended target.
It comes amid concerns around North Korean troops potentially joining Russia on the frontline in its war against Ukraine.
US president Joe Biden has advised Ukraine to strike back against North Korean troops “if they cross into Ukraine.”
Nato disclosed on Monday that these troop movements have led Kyiv to request additional military support and an international strategy to deter North Korea’s potential involvement.
The Pentagon confirmed on Tuesday that a number of North Korean soldiers are already positioned in Russia’s Kursk region, near the Ukrainian border, where Ukrainian forces made significant gains in August. Thousands more North Korean troops are reportedly en route to the area.
Washington has clarified that any North Korean troops engaged in combat would be “fair game” for Ukrainian attacks, and that no further restrictions would be placed on Ukraine’s use of US weaponry should North Korea enter the conflict.
South Korea, which remains technically at war with the North, condemned the deployment, with officials voicing concerns about possible exchanges between Russia and Pyongyang. Meanwhile, North Korean foreign minister Choe Son Hui has arrived in Russia’s far east, en route to Moscow, according to Russian state media.
Additional reporting by agencies
