Ballistic missile: North Korea can reach the United States

According to South Korea, the recent firing of the rocket Unha-3 made by Pyongyang is equivalent to a test ballistic missile with a load of half a ton and a range of about 10,000 km.

The recent firing rocket by North Korea is equivalent to a test ballistic missile with a load of half a ton and a range of about 10,000 km, said Sunday the South Korean army. This distance would allow a North Korean pitcher to reach any point in Asia, Eastern Europe, Western Africa, Alaska and part of the West Coast, including San Francisco. Pyongyang launched on 12 December, with success, a rocket Unha-3 loaded into orbit a satellite civilian mission purely scientific as the North. To its estimates, the South Korean army relied on the analysis of oxidizer tank, a product by combining with another product operates the combustion of the latter fell at sea during launch and recovered by the Navy South. "Based on our analysis and process simulation, the missile is capable of flying more than 10,000 km, with a load of between 500 and 600 kg," said a spokesman for the Ministry of Defence to press.

Pyongan control Does technology ICBMs?

The tank was mounted on the first stage of the rocket. In the absence of debris 2nd and 3rd floors of the Unha-3, South Korean scientists have been unable to determine whether the rocket was able to reenter the atmosphere, a key technology of intercontinental ballistic missiles . Debris recovered by the South consisted of eight panels of aluminum and magnesium welded by hand. "The welding was coarse, handmade," said the ministry official, adding that this type of tank for storing toxic chemicals was rarely used by the powers have a advanced space technology.

According to a study by the Foundation for Strategic Research (FRS) published in 2011, Pyongyang has systems North Korean Taepodong, but BM-25/SS-N-6 Nodong and North Korea "should hold some Copies of longer-range gear deployed north of the country in fixed configurations. " However, the FRS estimates "in 2015 that North Korea will have two regiments Nodong missile type, that is to say, a dozen mobile launchers and several hundred missiles". And noted that "given the cooldown and preparation imposed by the Nodong system, and assuming that its mobile launchers undergo attrition zero, we can assume that North Korea would at most be able to make two launches for a day and a score launch before exhausting its stock of missiles. "

An atomic bomb North Korea?

The shooting of 12 December is considered by Washington and its allies as yet another test of long-range ballistic missile. It ended a long series of misfires that have earned a volley of Pyongyang sanctions since 2006 and allows the young North Korean leader, Kim Jong-Un, to strengthen his authority. Westerners and their Asian allies accuse Pyongyang to hold several nuclear bombs and carry out nuclear tests in order to achieve the miniaturization and install them on missiles. However, experts believe that it is far from having a reliable ballistic power and the development of a deliverable nuclear capability by intercontinental ballistic missile take much time.