The Messages in North Korea’s Military Parade
Second, North Korea could "loft" the missile, firing it nearly straight up and then back down at a speed
that could overwhelm missile defense batteries, Mr. Lewis wrote in a blog post.
Think of this system, which carries a medium-range missile known as the KN-15, as more imminently threatening South Korea
and Japan with the sort of retaliation that North Korea is seeking with its new ICBMs.
While North Korea is known to have only one missile submarine, this could greatly increase the threat to South Korea and Japan.
It also gives North Korea two ways to potentially bypass South Korea’s new American-supplied missile defense system, the Thaad.
The KN-15 can only reach North Korea’s neighbors, but unlike the ICBMs has been tested in the field, making it much closer to combat-ready: This test, from February, shows how the
canister works, by ejecting the missile in a burst of pressurized steam, as well as how the track allows for firing from remote locations where satellites might not know to look.
First, though the missile defense has only a 120-degree field of view, a submarine allows North Korea to fire from virtually any direction.
