When a North Korean Missile Accidentally Hit a North Korean City

[DonViejo]

Early last year, a North Korean IRBM crashed in a populated area. What does that tell us?

By Ankit Panda and Dave Schmerler
January 03, 2018

What happens when a North Korean ballistic missile test fails in flight and explodes in a populated area? On April 28, 2017, North Korea launched a single Hwasong-12/KN17 intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) from Pukchang Airfield in South Pyongan Province (the Korean People’s Army’s Air and Anti-Air Force Unit 447 in Ryongak-dong, Sunchon City, to be more precise). That missile failed shortly after launch and crashed in the Chongsin-dong, in North Korean city of Tokchon, causing considerable damage to a complex of industrial or agricultural buildings.

According to a U.S. government source with knowledge of North Korea’s weapons programs who spoke to The Diplomat, the missile’s first stage engines failed after approximately one minute of powered flight, resulting in catastrophic failure. The missile never flew higher than approximately 70 kilometers. The location of the missile’s eventual impact was revealed exclusively to The Diplomat and evidence of the incident can be independently corroborated in commercially available satellite imagery from April and May 2017.

The April 28 failure merits close analysis, especially as North Korea continues to carry out flight-testing of its various ballistic missile platforms from a range of new test sites. In 2017, North Korea has introduced new sites for missile testing, arguably to demonstrate the flexibility of its Strategic Rocket Force. It has even carried out ballistic missile launches from a restricted area at Pyongyang’s Sunan Airport, which also serves as the country’s primary civil aviation facility and the entrypoint for most non-Chinese foreign visitors to North Korea. The potential for similar accidents occurring over Pyongyang, the country’s capital, or other populated regions remains high, especially with untested systems.

These risks may even serve to explain why North Korea chose to use the seaside town of Sinpo as its initial test site for the first two failed Hwasong-12 launches in April. An early in-flight failure over the sea would have a lower chance of striking any human infrastructure — certainly populated urban areas. However, since April, North Korea has not carried out any further ballistic missile testing from Sinpo (with the exception of four submarine-launched ballistic missile ejection tests).

more
https://thediplomat.com/2018/01/when-a-north-korean-missile-accidentally-hit-a-north-korean-city/

[marble falls]

1. What a simular Chinese rocket failure looks like: spectacular.....

[bronxiteforever]

2. Great and important read. Thanks for posting.

One sentence stands out to me-“North Korea’s missiles won’t be sitting ducks at known “launch pads,” contrary to much mainstream analysis.”
Hopefully someone reads this in the White House to stop this absurd march to war.

[Igel]

3. Another thing stands out.

By basing military infrastructure in a civilian airport, Kim's would assume responsibility for any designation of the civilian airport as a military target.

It's like having armed soldiers in a hospital. If the soldiers are a target, the hospital is a target if the opposing military argues that the value as a military target merits attacking the hospital.