N. Korea Reportedly Has Two New Missile Systems

North Korea is deploying new land- and sea-based ballistic missiles that can carry nuclear warheads and may have sufficient range to hit the United States, according to Jane’s Defense Weekly.

In an article scheduled to appear today, Jane’s says the two new systems appear to be based on a decommissioned Soviet submarine-launched ballistic missile, the R-27.

It says the communist nation acquired the know-how during the 1990s from Russian missile specialists and by buying 12 former Soviet submarines that were sold for scrap metal but retained key elements of their missile launch systems.

Jane’s, which did not specify its sources, says the sea-based missile is potentially the more threatening of the two new weapons systems.

“It would fundamentally alter the missile threat posed by [North Korea] and could finally provide its leadership with something that it has long sought to obtain -- the ability to directly threaten the continental U.S.,” the weekly says.

Apart from targeting the United States, South Korea or Japan, cash-strapped North Korea might seek to sell the technology to countries that have bought other missiles from it, with Iran a prime candidate, the article adds.

Ian Kemp, news editor of Jane’s Defense Weekly, said North Korea would spend the money and effort on developing such missiles only if it intended to fit them with nuclear warheads.

“It’s pretty certain the North Koreans would not be developing these unless they were intended for weapons of mass destruction warheads, and the nuclear warhead is far and away the most potent of those,” Kemp said.