It would appear that North Korea has conducted the first fire test of a new short-range missile system, very similar to the Russian Iskander-E missile.
According to the KCNA (Korean Central News Agency) North Korea has launched several short-range missiles from its eastern coast, launches confirmed by the Intelligence of South Korea. According to this source the missiles would have traveled distances between the 70 and the 200 km .
Subsequently, the North Korean state media released some new photos of the tests that would show the new short-range ballistic missile.
Joseph Dempsey, a Pentagon analyst, tweeted on his page that the new North Korean ballistic missile could be the Russian Isskander.
In fact, the design of the new missile would seem very similar to that of the Russian analogue, with the same single-stage solid-propellant launch system. Some sources claim that it could be a third-hand Iskander-E from Russia.
Kim Dong Yub, an analyst at the Institute for Far East Studies in Seoul, also claimed that the North Korean missile appears to have been copied from the 9K720 Iskander series short-range mobile ballistic missile system.
The new North Korean short-range missile, which was first seen in a Pyongyang military parade in February last year, has the potential to conduct nuclear attacks in all areas of South Korea.
