Hwasong-14, a North Korean missile, exceeded US intelligence predictions.

Hwasong-14 marks a "terrifying milestone" as North Korea may be able to attack the US state of Alaska many years sooner than previously anticipated.

North Korea announced on July 4th the successful test launch of the Hwasong-14 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), with a range of approximately 7,000 km, sufficient to reach the US territory of Alaska. For US military and intelligence agencies, the Hwasong-14 was an unexpected surprise, according to reports.Washington Post.

Intelligence agencies from the United States, South Korea, and Japan have all concluded that this is a "terrifying milestone" in North Korea's ballistic missile program, achieved years earlier than their previous estimates.

"It's a true ICBM, not a missile designed like an ICBM. There's no reason to believe it has a maximum range of less than 6,500 km," said Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia program at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (JMCNS).

David Wright,Director of the Global Security ProgramThe Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) in the US calculated that the Hwasong-14 could easily reach over 6,500 km. "This range isn't enough to reach major US cities or large island groups in Hawaii, but it's more than enough to cover the entire state of Alaska," Wright asserted.

Estimated range of the Hwasong-14.

Analysts say there is no evidence yet that North Korea is capable of manufacturing miniaturized nuclear warheads for ballistic missiles, or of producing ICBMs capable of reaching the US mainland, but the success of the Hwasong-14 test demonstrates that both of these conditions are within Pyongyang's reach.

U.S. intelligence has sought various ways to hinder North Korea's missile program, but the country has still achieved a series of breakthroughs, including the successful development of solid-fuel rocket engines and mobile launchers, as well as the creation of submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs).

Previously, it was suggested that the Hwasong-14 missile used an engine assembly from the Musudan missile. However, Lewis believes that the Hwasong-14 most likely uses a completely new engine developed by North Korea, which the country announced on March 18.

"It's not a copy of an old Soviet engine, nor is it a few old engines put together. I think they used the domestically produced engine design revealed three months ago and developed it for the ICBM," Lewis said.

In a statement issued after the Hwasong-14 test, Pyongyang asserted that the missile was guided to fly at the "highest possible angle," in order to avoid endangering neighboring countries. Military experts agree that the high flight trajectory served two important purposes.

The Hwasong-14 missile reached an altitude of 2,802 km. Photo: KCNA

A high flight path would shorten the range, eliminating the risk of the missile flying over Japanese territory. Furthermore, this flight path would cause parts of the Hwasong-14 missile to fall into the deep waters of the Sea of ​​Japan, making it impossible for the US and Japan to recover the missile for study, according to writer Joby Warrick.

According to VNE