N. Korea tests bear Russian stamp

Experts say ballistic missiles resemble nuclear-capable Iskanders

A missile blasts off Thursday along the west coast of North Korea in an image provided Friday by the North Korean government.
A missile blasts off Thursday along the west coast of North Korea in an image provided Friday by the North Korean government.

TOKYO -- The three new missiles North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has tested over the past week are familiar to military experts. They look just like a controversial and widely copied missile the Russian military has deployed to Syria and has been actively trying to sell abroad for years.

Ending a pause in ballistic missile launches that began in late 2017 and alarming North Korea's neighbors, Kim personally supervised the launch of the first missile from the country's east coast on May 4 and two more from the west on Thursday. All splashed down in the Pacific.

The U.S. and South Korea have determined that two projectiles launched Thursday were short-range missiles, a South Korean military official said Friday.

The weapons flew 260 miles and 167 miles, respectively, on Thursday with an apogee of 28 to 31 miles, according to Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff and Defense Ministry. The launches were seen as a possible North Korean warning toward Washington over deadlocked nuclear negotiations as the two sides continue to struggle with mismatched demands on sanctions relief and disarmament.

The missiles bear a strong resemblance to the Russian-designed Iskander, a short-range, nuclear-capable ballistic missile that has been in the Russian arsenal for more than a decade.

"There are Russian technology fingerprints all over it," said Marcus Schiller, a leading expert on North Korean missiles who is based in Germany.

He added that short of actually procuring the missiles from Russia, the North could have had key parts delivered from somewhere else, perhaps not directly from Russia, while making components such as the outer shell, or airframe, domestically.

The Iskander, or something like it, would be of particular interest to North Korea.

It's designed to fly at a flattened-out altitude of around 25 miles and to make in-flight guidance adjustments. Both capabilities exploit weaknesses in the U.S. and South Korean missile defenses that are now in place, primarily Patriot missile batteries and the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense anti-missile system.

The Iskander is also quicker to launch, and thus harder to destroy on the ground, because of its solid fuel engine and more accurate because of its advanced guidance system.

Despite claims by senior members of President Donald Trump's administration that the missiles aren't a threat to the United States, in a battle scenario they would likely be used to attack targets well behind the front lines, such as the U.S. military bases in South Korea. There are roughly 28,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea and tens of thousands more family members and civilian Department of Defense employees.

The North first displayed a mock-up of an Iskander-like missile at a military parade in 2018. This week's launches mark its first known flight tests.

Michael Elleman, director of the Nonproliferation and Nuclear Policy Program at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said further analysis of the missiles' performance will provide clues as to whether it was produced by Russia.

"If its flight path and accuracy were marginal or inconsistent with known Iskander trajectories and performance, then I think some form of local development with external technical assistance is more likely," he said. "The key here is that one cannot make a new system without undertaking certain development steps. I have seen no evidence of such activity."

Initial reports suggested at least one of the tests did involve an Iskander-like trajectory.

The Iskander missile system has been part of the Russian arsenal since 2006. The Iskander-M version used by the Russian military is more than 7 yards long, can weigh more than 9,000 pounds and has a range of about 250 to 310 miles.

Russia first tested the Iskander in combat in 2008, against Georgia.

The Iskander missiles have long been a source of tension in Europe and were cited by Trump as a key reason behind his decision in February to break with the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which bans production, testing and deployment of land-based cruise and ballistic missiles with a range of 310 to 3,410 miles.

Such missiles only take a few minutes to reach their targets, leaving no time for decision-makers and raising the likelihood of a global nuclear conflict over a false launch warning. Moscow claims the Iskander-M's range is just below the operational limit and should not be considered a treaty violation.

From the start, Russia has seen the Iskander missile as a potential export.

To avoid running afoul of international nonproliferation restrictions, Russia produces a less-formidable version that has a reduced range and is designed to carry a smaller payload for sales abroad.

So far, it has sold that missile -- called Iskander-E -- to Algeria and Armenia. It has reportedly discussed exports to Iran, Libya, the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia.

Information for this article was contributed by Kim Tong-Hyung, Hyung-Jin Kim, Foster Klug and Mari Yamaguchi of The Associated Press.

A Section on 05/11/2019

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