North Korea flaunts new missiles; no nuke test

North Korea unveiled what could be a new intercontinental ballistic missile at a giant military parade in Pyongyang on Saturday, but the nation did not carry out a major weapons test.

As tensions between North Korea and the U.S. rose in recent days, there had been speculations that Kim Jong Un would conduct a nuclear test or other major military test.  But on Saturday North Korea held a military parade displaying a variety of ballistic missiles it has recently tested among other weapons.

Nearly 60 missiles rolled through Kim Il-Sung Square at an event to mark the 105th anniversary of the North’s founder, in a show of strength as tensions mount over the isolated nation’s military ambitions.

Its ultimate goal is an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to the US mainland - something President Donald Trump has vowed “won’t happen”.

Saturday’s parade displayed devices in increasing order of range and it was four huge green missiles, rolled out on articulated trailers towards the end, that caught the attention of military specialists. “This appears to be a new ICBM,” Yonhap news agency quoted an unidentified South Korean military official as saying, adding that they appeared longer than the country’s existing KN-08 or KN-14 missiles.

Pyongyang has yet to formally announce it has an operational ICBM, but Chad O’Carroll, managing director of specialist service NK News, said the new rockets could be liquid-fuelled intercontinental ballistic missiles, or an early prototype.
These long-range missiles would be “a big game-changer once it is deployed in service”, he said.