North Korea’s Hwasong-18 ICBM and its July 12, 2023 successful launch is likely the result of technical cooperation sourced to Russia.
Unlike the North Korean liquid propellant ICBMs which North Korea has demonstrated over the past few years, the sudden appearance of a solid fueled ICBM occurred only months after a horizontal engine test. This test demonstrated that the Hwasong-18 can deliver substantial payloads to intercontinental ranges along with decoy canister countermeasures. The sudden appearance of these advanced capabilities is difficult to explain without cooperation from the Russian government and its scientists.
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[Editor’s Note: Remember that just a few years back, Trump had met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un three times, became the first sitting U.S. president to step foot in North Korea, and got stalled nuclear talks moving again. Our respective leaders were talking, and listening. Trump and Putin were also speaking. Both North Korea and Russia saw Trump rebuilding the military, revitalize the defense industrial base, and create the sixth branch of our Armed Forces. They also saw him effectively employ the military to stomp out problems (Islamic State, IGRC commander Qassem “Lefty” Soleimani, etc..). At a minimum, there was respect, if not a measure of fear.
Compare all that to our current national flex. They see an economy being driven into the ground, a military and foreign service celebrating, worldwide, what many nations consider offensive and depraved lifestyles, the waving-in of the 3rd world migrants from around the globe (with many nations emptying their prisons and mental hospitals and sending the problem our way), a dangerous depletion of wartime stocks, the selloff of a big chunk of the Strategic Petroleum Reserves (to artificially suppress gas prices), the closure of multiple embassies, a disastrous pullout from Afghanistan, allowing surveillance balloons to traverse the nation’s airspace, and on and on and on.
From an adversary’s perspective, they must be laughing. ]