Kim Jong Un’s ‘Monster’ Missile Meant to Overwhelm U.S. Defenses
- New missile could hold four warheads in payload, experts say
- North Korea rolled out new weapon at weekend military parade
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The missile Kim Jong Un rolled out this weekend could allow him to pack multiple atomic weapons in a single rocket and increase his chances of striking a U.S. city with a thermonuclear device.
The size and likely engine configuration of the missile would allow it to carry several thousand pounds of payload anywhere in the U.S., according to weapons experts who saw the new intercontinental ballistic missile Kim unveiled in a military parade on Saturday. Kim appears to have learned from the former Soviet Union that it’s more efficient to add warheads to a single system rather than to build more missiles and launchers, according to Ankit Panda, author of “Kim Jong Un and the Bomb: Survival and Deterrence in North Korea.”