North Korea Allegedly Hit One of Its Own Cities With a Missile in Test Blunder

Background image: alleged site of failed test missile strike in North Korea (via Google Maps). Inlaid: photo taken on Nov. 29, 2017 and released on Nov. 30, 2017 by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows launching of the Hwasong-15 missile which is capable of reaching all parts of the United States. (AFP PHOTO / KCNA VIA KNS)

North Korea accidentally hit one its own cities with a missile, according to a report published in The Diplomat on Wednesday, Jan. 3.

Satellite images show damage caused by a failed test launch that struck Tokchon, a city of 200,000 in the interior of the country, according to a US government source with knowledge of North Korea’s weapons programs.

An intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), named the Hwasong KN-17, was fired from Pukchang Airfield in South Pyongan Province, 40 miles north of Pyongyang on April 28 last year, the source told The Diplomat.

But after about one minute of powered flight, the rocket crashed down in the Chongsin-dong area of the city, apparently damaging what appears to be an agricultural or industrial building.

Satellite images from May 2017 reportedly show damage caused by a failed test launch that struck the North Korean city of Tokchon weeks earlier in April, according to a US government official. (Google Maps)

The report in The Diplomat references satellite images (not the ones displayed here) that appear to show an impact crater that has apparently since been filled in. The report also draws attention to seeming structural damage to one of the buildings. (Google Maps)

It is next to impossible to verify the true extent of the damage, or indeed to verify the report itself, due to the lack of access to the secretive communist state.

Tokchon, North Korea, is where a test-fired missile landed, the report claims. (Google Maps)

An earlier North Korean test launch failure

A missile that North Korea claimed had the range to hit targets anywhere in the United States most likely broke up as it re-entered the earth’s atmosphere, a U.S. official said on Saturday, Dec. 2, reported Fox.

The news came in the wake of renewed concerns about North Korea’s nuclear strike capability as the rogue nation broke a two-month pause in weapons testing with the launch of its “most powerful ICBM” yet, dubbed the Hwasong-15.

“The ICBM Hwasong-15 type weaponry system is an intercontinental ballistic rocket tipped with super-large heavy warhead. which is capable of striking the whole mainland of the U.S,” North Korea’s Central News Agency, a mouthpiece of the communist party, said on Nov. 29. According to North Korean state media, the ICBM flew for 53 minutes and reached heights of nearly 2,800 miles (4,500 kilometers).

While a technical analysis of the missile’s flight is still pending, the U.S. official said it had “problems with re-entry.”

North Korea’s Hwasong-15 ICBM reached an altitude of about 2,780 miles and flew 590 miles during its 53-minute flight. (Reuters/KCNA)

Despite revelations about the reported fragmentation of the two-stage liquid-fuel missile, this latest development in North Korea’s nuclear weapons program is concerning as it showcases an ability the regime previously didn’t have. It also signals the seriousness of regime’s frequently stated intent to develop weapons capable of attacking the United States.

While North Korea has threatened the U.S. mainland for months with nuclear weapons, intelligence and military experts said the regime lacked the ability to effectively deliver a nuclear warhead—this has now changed.

Following the ICBM missile test on Nov. 27, U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis said that the missiles North Korea is developing “could threaten everywhere in the world.”

The North Korean regime has admitted that it is using its nuclear weapons program as a way to pressure the United States and to protect its regime.

North Korea defector reveals regime plans to build new threat

North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has ordered top scientists to build the country’s largest rocket yet, according to a defector.

The defector told a Japanese newspaper that the country has already started production on its largest missile to date, planning for a launch on the 70th anniversary of the founding of the communist republic.

The unnamed defector told Japan’s Mainichi newspaper that Kim told North Korean scientists in mid-December to construct the missile during a two-day meeting of senior military leaders and scientists in the country’s capital of Pyongyang.

According to the Telegraph, the defector was described as someone who was previously involved in the regime’s missile program—and has retained links to former colleagues in the North.

The missile has been designated the Unha-4, and is planned as a larger version of the Unha-3.

This screenshot shows North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un delivering a New Year's speech at an undisclosed location. (Reuters TV)

Two Unha-3 missiles have been successfully launched, the latest in February 2016 from the Sohae Satellite Launching Station in the northwest of the communist country.

The latest launch successfully carried a satellite, according to the regime, reported CNN. The first launch in 2012 had failed to accomplish that.

“Many nations, such as the United States and South Korea, consider the launch to be a cover for testing ballistic missile technology,” the broadcaster reported. “The nuclear-armed North has insisted its aim was to place a scientific satellite in space.”

The satellite that North Korea claimed had been put into orbit has not been identified by experts, casting doubt on the claim of success.

The Unha-3 was 98-feet long and based on Soviet technology. The North Korean defector told the Japanese newspaper that the Unha-4 is essentially ready but needs to undergo multiple rounds of testing.

“The defector said there were likely two major objectives in launching a new long-range missile. One would be the use of a satellite for guidance and observation of future missile launches,” according to the Asahi Shimbun. “The other could be to use the pro forma launch of a satellite into space to test whether the missile was capable of re-entry into the atmosphere.”

The latest missile news comes just a few days after Kim claimed in his New Year’s speech that he has a “nuclear button” on his desk to use at any time.

“The entire United States is within range of our nuclear weapons, and a nuclear button is always on my desk,” Kim said in his speech.

“No matter how much America wants to attack us with their military might and nuclear power, they know that now we possess such great nuclear power and therefore they will not dare.”

While much of the regime’s true capability is shrouded in secret, CIA Director Mike Pompeo said in October 2017 that the regime appeared to be just months away from perfecting its nuclear capabilities.

And in late November 2017, experts indicated that a video showed evidence that the regime is closer than ever to that goal.

“This is a very big missile,” Michael Duitsman, a research associate at the Centre for Nonproliferation Studies, said in an analysis posted to Twitter. “And I don’t mean ‘Big for North Korea.’ Only a few countries can produce missiles of this size, and North Korea just joined the club.”

U.S. President Donald Trump has said multiple times over the past several months that the United States would meet force with force were Jong Un ever to make good on his threats of launching one or more nuclear missiles at the United States.

NTD contributed to this report

Recommended Video:

2017 Year in Review