North Korean despot Kim Jong Un has ordered his scientists to build the hermit kingdom’s largest missile in time for a Sept. 9 launch — the 70th anniversary of the founding of the republic, according to a report.
A defector who was involved in the rogue regime’s missile program suggested Kim issued the directive during a meeting of military brass and scientists in Pyongyang, Japan’s Mainichi newspaper reported.
He said the missile will be called the Unha-4 and will be a larger version of the Unha-3, a three-stage vehicle that North Korea claims is designed to put satellites in orbit, according to the UK’s Telegraph.
An Unha-3 was successfully launched from the Sohae Satellite Launching Station in the far northwest of the country in February 2016.
The rocket is believed to have placed a small satellite in orbit, but no transmissions have been detected from it.
North Korea insists it has the right to launch rockets and satellites, although the UN Security Council has condemned Unha-class rocket launches because Pyongyang is using them to advance its inter-continental strike capabilities.
The Rodong Sinmun newspaper on Dec. 25 said in an editorial that “our satellite launch is a legitimate exercise of the right that thoroughly fits the UN Charter that enshrines the basic rights of respect for sovereignty and equality, and the international laws that govern the peaceful use of space.”
The new rocket will be larger than the Unha-3, which is about 98 feet long and based on the former Soviet Union’s Scud ballistic missile technology.
The defector claims that development of the body of the Unha-4 is essentially complete but that scientists will need a six more months to have the new weapon ready for launch.
It has been suggested the Unha-4 will be used to place a satellite in orbit to guide and observe future missile launches — though it also may be used to test the ability of a warhead to survive re-entry into the atmosphere.
While the North is known to have made significant advances in its ICBMs, analysts believe its scientists have not fully mastered the delicate task of shielding a warhead from the intense heat that builds up during re-entry.
The reports coincide with the release of a study by the Sejong Institute of South Korea that warns that North Korea still needs to carry out test launches on a full ICBM trajectory and with a live warhead.
“The North’s seventh nuclear test could take place not underground but over the Pacific,” Cheong Seong-chang, a senior analyst, said in the report the Telegraph reported.
