SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s military says North Korea’s largest missile test used an older, smaller intercontinental ballistic missile rather than the huge new Hwasong-17 ICBM, in part to prevent a negative domestic response to a failed . South Korean and U.S. officials have concluded that the March 24 launch appears to have been an ICBM Hwasong-15, said a Pentagon staffer who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. Washington has not yet publicly weighed in, with Pentagon spokesman John Kirby telling reporters Tuesday that the test is still under analysis. North Korea punched the Hwasong-15 in November 2017, before imposing a moratorium on ICBM tests that ended with the launch last week. Open source analysts have noted discrepancies in videos and photos released by North Korean state media after the launch, saying shadows, weather and other factors suggest it was from a previous test, possibly a failed March 16 launch. “The choice of the Hwasong-15, which is more reliable with the successful test of 2017, could be aimed at blocking rumors and ensuring the stability of the regime by sending a message of success as soon as possible, after the Pyongyang residents became “The March 16 launch is a testament to its failure,” the defense ministry said in a report to parliament. The test could also be aimed at strengthening its status as a military force and improving its bargaining power against South Korea, the United States and the international community, the report concluded. U.S. and South Korean officials said the February 27 and March 5 tests involved the Hwasong-17 system, most likely in preparation for a full-scale launch. North Korea has never acknowledged the March 16 launch or its alleged failure. Debris from that failed test rained down on Pyongyang, Ha Tae-keung, a South Korean lawmaker who was briefed by the military told reporters on Tuesday. The story goes on That failure prompted North Korea to tell a “big lie” and say the March 24 launch of the Hwasong-15 was a Hwasong-17 to avoid negative domestic public opinion, Ha said. Thursday’s rocket flew for 67.5 minutes at a range of 1,090 km (681 miles) and a maximum altitude of 6,248.5 km (3,905 miles), state media reported. These numbers are similar to the data reported by Japan and South Korea and are higher and higher than the first Hwasong-15 test, which flew for 53 minutes at an altitude of about 4,475 km and a range of 950 km. The characteristics of Thursday’s rocket, such as ascending acceleration, burning and stage separation times, were similar to those of the Hwasong-15, even if the flight flew farther and reached higher altitudes, the report said. South Korean officials had suggested that North Korea may have modified a Hwasong-15 or launched it without a significant test payload to increase its range. Analysts say the March 16 explosion may have been caused by an engine problem. The ministry report noted that the Hwasong-17 required a more sophisticated set of four Paektusan engines compared to the two Hwasong-15s and that eight days between launches were not enough to analyze the cause of the failure. “If March 16 was a failure of Hwasong-17 and March 24 was a Hwasong-15, it obviously shows that Hwasong-17 still has teething problems,” said Vann Van Diepen, a former U.S. government official involved in weapons of mass destruction and non-proliferation. . A second successful test of the Hwasong-15 would have confirmed its reliability, but if its improved performance was only due to the reduced payload, then the significance would be limited, he said. (Report by Hyonhee Shin and Josh Smith. Edited by Gerry Doyle)
