North Korea's new resilient deterrent worries US: Report

North Korea’s latest unveiling of submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) has been described by US experts as an indication that Pyongyang is inching closer to a genuinely powerful missile. 

Last week, North Korea displayed what appeared to be a new submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) at a parade in Pyongyang.

“This will ultimately pave the way for the North Koreans to eventually begin testing land-based intermediate-range solid-propellant missiles and eventually intercontinental-range solid-propellant missiles,” adjunct senior fellow at the Federation of American Scientists Ankit Panda told US Foreign Policy magazine Thursday.

What that means in practical terms is a much more resilient nuclear deterrent – “complicating even further any US response in a potential future crisis,” the report said.

North Korea has made big strides in his missile program in recent years, with the latest design capable of carrying multiple warheads as far as the US mainland. 

N Korea displays ‘world’s most powerful weapon’ ahead of Biden tenure

North Korea shows off a submarine-borne ballistic missile that Pyongyang has hailed as the world’s most potent weapon, less than a week before Biden starts his presidency.

Experts have always cautioned against the Western tendency to underestimate Pyongyang’s technical skills.

“With the North Koreans, there is a constant tendency to underestimate their technical capabilities. They tend to have very long timelines, but they essentially overdeliver on their promises,” said Go Myung-hyun, a research fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul.

“It’s conceivable that North Korea can achieve solid-fuel ICBM capability sooner than you expect,” he further observed, noting that every missile test they have conducted since October 2017 has been solid fuel.

Kim vowed to strengthen his country’s military capabilities and nuclear arsenal, days before new US President Joe Biden was sworn into office.

North Korean leader pledges to strengthen military, nuclear arsenal

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un vows to strengthen his country’s military capabilities and nuclear arsenal, days before US President-elect Joe Biden takes office.

"While strengthening our nuclear war deterrent, we need to do everything in order to build the most powerful military," North Korea’s state news agency KCNA quoted Kim as saying on January 13.

Future of US-North Korea ties

Earlier, Kim described the United States as "the biggest enemy" of his country, insisting that the hostile policy adopted by Washington toward Pyongyang would not change regardless of who leads the White House.  

Kim further underlined that abandoning those hostile policies would be the key to Pyongyang-Washington relations.

“Our foreign political activities should be focused and redirected on subduing the US, our biggest enemy and the main obstacle to our innovated development,” Kim said. 

Kim says US ‘biggest enemy” of North Korea no matter who occupies White House

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un says the US is the biggest enemy of his country and that the US policy does not change with presidents.

“No matter who is in power in the US, the true nature of the US and its fundamental policies towards North Korea never change,” he added, vowing to expand ties with “anti-imperialist, independent forces” while calling for expanded nuclear capabilities.

It is not clear what will happen to the future of the relations between North Korea and the US. Biden had once called Kim a “thug” during the election campaign and Kim in return had called Biden in 2019 a “rabid dog” that needed to be “beaten to death with a stick.”

Biden also stated last October that he would only meet with Kim on the condition that Pyongyang would agree to reduce its nuclear capacity.

North Korea has long been under harsh sanctions by the United Nations and the US over its nuclear and missile programs.

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