South Korea Analyzes Unha-3 Debris, Declares US in Range

South Korea’s navy collected this and other pieces of debris dropped from Unha-3’s spent rockets (Credits: Reuters).

On December 12, North Korea surprised the world by launching a rocket and hoisting a satellite into space. The satellite was quickly determined to be non-functional and to have no attitude control, but that did not reassure the country’s many foes, including South Korea and the United States, who fear that development of launch capabilities masks the intention to create nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM).

Now, South Korea has confirmed that those fears may be warranted. “As a result of analyzing the material of Unha-3, we judged North Korea had secured a range of more than 10,000km in case the warhead is 500-600kg,” a South Korean defense ministry official told journalists. 10,000 km is far enough for North Korea to hit the western United States.

It is unlikely that the country will be able to cause any intentional harm for some time, since South Korea’s analysis noted a distinct crudity of design  – no surprise considering the years of sanctions that have kept many technological developments foreign to the isolated dictatorship. The oxidizer used was unsual and welding was noted to have been applied manually. There is no indication that North Korea possesses the technology to conduct a controlled reentry needed to deliver a missile.

The launch of the rocket, which followed two unsuccessful attempts, was celebrated with rallies in North Korean capital Pyongyang, even while condemned by the UN Security Council for violating two UN resolutions. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un insists the rocket is intended for civilian purposes and called for “a variety of more working satellites” and “carrier rockets of bigger capacity.”

Meanwhile, South Korea has been unable to launch a rocket of its own, even with Russian help. While South Korea’s KSLV-1 is more sophisticated than Unha-3, it has yet to complete a successful launch.