• North Korea releases photos of its latest missile tests.
• It includes an intercontinental ballistic missile.
• NK’s General Staff will continue to respond with overwhelming realistic military actions.

North Korea revealed photographs of its latest missile tests, including an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), calling South Korea-US military drills a “open provocation and deadly war drill” to which it had to reply.

On Monday, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) claimed that North Korea’s General Staff would continue to respond to South Korea and US military exercises with “sustained, determined and overwhelming realistic military actions.”

North Korea fired multiple missiles this week, including a probable failed ICBM, cruise missiles, and hundreds of artillery shells, as its southern neighbor and the US extended their Vigilant Storm air drills from five to six days in response to Pyongyang’s testing.

The North Korean military called the exercises a “open provocation aimed at purposely raising the tension” and “a deadly war simulation of very high aggressive nature,” according to KCNA.

Vigilant Storm involved hundreds of US and South Korean jets, including B-1B bombers.

B-1Bs returned to the Korean peninsula after December 2017.

The North Korean army said it simulated attacks on air bases, aircraft, and a key South Korean city to “smash the adversaries’ incessant war hysteria,” KCNA said. It did not say if Kim Jong Un oversaw the exercises.

The report said North Korea fired two allegedly nuclear-capable “strategic” cruise missiles on November 2 toward the waters outside Ulsan, a southeastern coastal city in South Korea. Seoul officials called the assertion “untrue” and said no missiles had been tracked close there.

North Korea launched 23 missiles that day, with one falling 26km (16 miles) south of the Northern Limit Line, the unofficial maritime border between the two Koreas, for the first time since the 1953 Korean War armistice.

Two “tactical ballistic missiles laden with dispersion warheads,” a test of a “unique functional warhead paralyzing the operating command system of the enemy,” and a 500-fighter aircraft “all-out combat sortie” were also part of the operations.

Analyst Joseph Dempsey questioned that assumption, stating that practically every dedicated combat aircraft in North Korea’s arsenal would be sent, even if many are decades old or unserviceable.

“[The] 500 figure seems inflated or at least misleading,” the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies research associate tweeted.

On Monday, a South Korean ship found debris from the missile that landed near its waters, a Joint Chiefs of Staff official said.

The official said an undersea investigation from the South Korean Navy rescue vessel recovered the parts, which are being analyzed.

North Korea views US-South Korea joint drills as invasion rehearsals and reacts strongly.

Pyongyang is sensitive to Vigilant Storm drills because its air force is one of its weakest, lacking high-tech jets and well-trained pilots.

Some observers questioned if all of KCNA’s photographs were new, while others highlighted that North Korea appeared to have tested either a new ICBM or a derivative.

“It’s not explicit in their statement, but the design doesn’t relate to one we’ve seen before,” said Carnegie Endowment for International Peace weapons specialist Ankit Panda.

He added the launch may have been a developmental platform for evaluating missile subsystems, including MIRVs, which allow a single missile to dump nuclear warheads on numerous targets.

Panda called it an ICBM.

The photographs showed a redesigned nosecone on the Hwasong-15 ICBM, which was originally tested in 2017.

He stated the nosecone seems different and larger than needed for the 200- to 300-kiloton nuclear bomb featured in state media and allegedly tested in 2017.

Herbert stated the shape is better for a single massive warhead than several MIRVs.

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New ICBM. 🧐 https://www.bolnews.com/world/2022/11/n-korea-slams-us-s-korea-drills-pledges-merciless-response/amp/ pic.twitter.com/yI3ZZo8aBd

— Ankit Panda (@nktpnd) November 6, 2022

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