North Korea’s claim on ICBM test plausible, say experts
The Institute of International Studies expects Pyongyang to try an intercontinental ballistic missile flight test in 2017
SEOUL — North Korea has been working through 2016 on developing components for an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), making the isolated nation’s claim that it was close to a test-launch plausible, international weapons experts said on Monday. North Korea has been testing rocket engines and heat-shields for an ICBM while developing the technology to guide a missile after re-entry into the atmosphere, the experts said. While Pyongyang is close to a test, it is likely to take some years to perfect the weapon. Once fully developed, a North Korean ICBM could threaten the US, which is about 9,000km away. ICBMs can travel between 5,500km to 10,000km. North Korea’s state media regularly threatens the US with a nuclear strike, but before 2016 Pyongyang had been assumed to be a long way from being capable of doing so. "The bottom line is Pyongyang is much further along in their missile development than most people realise," said Melissa Hanham, a senior research associate at the US-b...
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