What We’ve Learned from North Korea’s Missile Launch

In recent years, the public of the world has lived in fear of the potential for nuclear war. With unstable heads of state such as Putin and Trump at the helm of major Nuclear powerhouses, this fear has heightened in recent times. This past weekend the North Koreans carried out a test that has the world feeling uneasy.

After many recent failures, the North Koreans were able to successfully test their missile named the Hwasong-12.

Many people wrote this test off as another failure or at least something the public need not worry about after they discovered that it had only traveled 492 miles from the site it was launched, not even enough distance to reach Japan. Recent reports, however, claim that what is more concerning about this test launch is the altitude that it was able to reach, a total of 1,300 miles.

Although a missile that can reach very high altitudes but very short total distance may seem impractical in a nuclear war, had this missile been tested at a normal trajectory it would have traveled 3,000 miles, which would have been enough to carry it past the American Military base on the island of Guam.

In addition to how far this missile can potentially travel, the Hwasong-12 was a stepping stone in many other regards as well. The way that the missile fell to the earth mimicked the fiery flight that a long-distance missile experiences during flight. The way the missile reacted allows those working on the missile to make any changes necessary before testing a long-distance model, essentially allowing them to determine the worst case scenario for other missile types.

The biggest concern for world peace is the fact that the Hwasong-12 is a smaller version of the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) Korea North Type 8. With these two missiles having very similar structures, they also have similar capabilities. This means that what one missile experiences during a test flight can be applied to the other, and thus allow for improvements without needing to test it.

With this knowledge, the thinking of American experts has drastically shifted. Instead of thinking of the North Koreans as years behind us, they believe that they will have a fully working ICBM in the year 2020. Although this is assuming the worst, the United States cannot be too safe.

For the foreseeable future, the United States is safe and do not have to worry about the Nuclear War with the North Koreans, but times are changing. To ensure avoiding the worst case scenario in the future, now is the right time to take action or negotiate with the North Koreans.