[Yang Nak-gyu's Defence Club] The Success of Nuriho... Is ICBM Development Possible?

Only Domestic Reader-Developed Nuriho Base Technology Similar to ICBM
Atmospheric Reentry and Fuel Forms Differ, Making Conversion Difficult

If the Korean launch vehicle Nuriho (KSLV-II), developed with domestic technology, succeeds in its launch on the 24th, there is growing interest in whether our military will also possess intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) technology. Military experts agree that although the foundational technologies such as rocket engines and stage separation are similar, the development intent differs, making conversion to weapon development difficult.

According to military experts, space launch vehicles like Nuriho share many technical similarities with ICBMs. Representative foundational technologies include rocket engines and stage separation. For this reason, whenever North Korea launches a satellite, the international community views it as part of ICBM development.

However, Nuriho differs from ICBMs in several ways. The first is atmospheric re-entry technology. Nuriho’s purpose is to launch artificial satellites. It ascends nearly vertically into the sky, reaches a certain orbit, separates the satellite, and completes its mission. In contrast, an ICBM exits the atmosphere, shuts down its engine at the highest altitude, follows a parabolic trajectory, and falls toward a ground target. At this time, the warhead attached to the missile must withstand high temperatures and pressures. It is heated to temperatures exceeding 2000 to 6000 degrees Celsius due to collision with air at speeds over 9 km/s, requiring technology to protect the warhead.

The second difference is the type of fuel used. Most ICBMs use solid fuel, but Nuriho uses liquid fuel. Liquid fuel is unsuitable for military use. Liquid fuel engines mostly use highly corrosive and toxic substances as fuel and oxidizer. Therefore, the fuel cannot be stored in the rocket for long periods and must be loaded immediately before launch. Fuel loading can take more than four hours. Using liquid fuel in an ICBM would expose it to military satellites. This is why North Korea develops solid-fuel ICBMs.

Shin Jong-woo, Secretary General of the Korea Defense and Security Forum, said, "To use missiles, they must be launched quickly and covertly without the enemy knowing, but the fuel loading process exposes them to the enemy."

Military experts say that while our military has the capability to build ICBMs, there is no particular reason to possess long-range missiles. Our military is already developing the ‘Hyunmoo-5,’ a high-yield ballistic missile with a warhead weight of about 6 tons capable of striking all of North Korea. These high-yield ballistic missiles under development by the military are evaluated to have the world’s highest level of explosive power among conventional warheads, excluding nuclear warheads.

These high-yield ballistic missiles are a core force of the Massive Punishment and Retaliation (KMPR) system, one of the three-axis systems, designed to maximize penetration and explosive power to destroy North Korea’s underground key military facilities.

Earlier, after the presidential briefing last year, the military announced plans to increase the quantity of high-yield and ultra-precision missiles as part of strengthening the KMPR system. This includes expanding the number of existing ballistic missiles such as ‘Hyunmoo-2’ and ‘Hyunmoo-4,’ which are either deployed or in the process of deployment, as well as accelerating the development of ‘asymmetric forces’ such as high-yield ballistic missiles and hypersonic missiles. In addition to high-yield ballistic missiles, the military is developing hypersonic missiles based on cruise missiles (HCM) and ballistic missiles (HGV) in two directions, all aiming for completion in the 2030s.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.