Experts: North Korea's ICBMs Pose Preemption Challenges for US
Institute of International Studies at Monterey in California.
Missile Defense
Experts said the U.S. needs to bolster its ability to intercept a solid-fueled ICBM after it is fired as trying to preempt it prior to launch becomes increasingly difficult. The task is especially difficult if many missiles are fired at one time.
The U.S. needs to “develop, test and deploy other means of interception in addition to its limited ground-based interceptors,” including “interceptions from space,” said Riki Ellison, chairman and founder of Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance.
Intercepting missiles after their launches is referred to as “right of launch” missile defense. Traditional U.S. right of launch missile defenses include ground-based midcourse defense (GMD); the Aegis sea-based midcourse defense; the THAAD, which is designed to counter short- to long-range missiles; and the Patriot surface-to-air missile defense, said Williams.
Williams added the U.S. has been modernizing its GMD system to destroy complex missiles as well as developing new satellites with enhanced missile-tracking capabilities.
Potential First Strike Danger
The test of a solid-fueled engine following the launch of the Hwasong-17 ICBM is alarming, said Evans Revere, a former State Department official with extensive experience negotiating with North Korea.
He noted that the regime has codified a law giving itself the right to use preemptive nuclear strikes against threats seen as imminent, even if it is not attacked.
“Seen in this context, the development of this new engine may indicate that North Korea seeks to develop an easily transportable, easily concealable, high-capability ICBM that could be used to carry out a nuclear first strike against the United States or its allies,” Revere said. “If this is North Korea’s intention, then we are heading into an even more dangerous era in which the risks posed by Pyongyang will rise dramatically.”
At the same time, a solid-fueled ICBM, along with efforts to develop submarine-launched solid-fuel ballistic missiles, indicates North Korea is trying to “develop a more sophisticated and survivable nuclear weapons arsenal that can be used to conduct a second strike in the event of a conflict,” Revere added.
A second strike refers to a retaliatory strike in response to an attack or a first strike.
Ken Gause, an expert on North Korean leadership and the director of strategy, policy, plans, and programs division special projects at CNA, said more advanced tests including an ICBM launch on a normal trajectory could be on the way as North Korea responds to the deployment of U.S. strategic assets to South Korea.
As a deterrent show of force following the test of what North Korea claimed as its first spy satellite on Sunday, the U.S. sent nuclear-capable B-52 bombers and F-22 stealth fighter jets to conduct joint exercises with South Korea’s F-35 and F-15 warplanes near Jeju Island, according to South Korea’s military on Tuesday.
South Korea said what North Korea tested on Sunday were two medium-range ballistic missiles.
Christy Lee is a VOA News reporter.This article is published courtesy of the Voice of America (VOA).
