The color and shape of the exhaust flames seen in North Korean media photos of the launch suggest the missile uses pre-charged solid fuel, making the weapons more agile and harder to detect than liquid propellants that typically must be fed beforehand.

But experts say the photos show the ICBM and its launcher are both oversized, raising serious questions about their mobility and survivability in war.

“When missiles get bigger, what happens? Vehicles are also getting bigger. As carrier-erector launchers grow, their mobility decreases,” Lee Sangmin, an expert at South Korea’s Korea Institute of Defense Analyzes.

The Hwasong-19 was estimated to be at least 28 meters long (92 feet), while advanced U.S. and Russian ICBMs are less than 20 meters long (66 feet), said Chang Young-keun, a missile expert at the Korea Research Institute for National Studies in Seoul. Strategy. He suggested that South Korea’s warning Wednesday of an imminent ICBM launch by North Korea was related to the size of the missile.

“In the event of a conflict, such exposure makes the weapon a target for preemptive attack by opponents, which would pose a big survivability problem,” Chang said.

Lee Illwoo, an expert with South Korea’s Korea Defense Network, said North Korea could have developed a larger missile to carry larger, more destructive warheads or multiple warheads. If so, Lee said North Korea could have used liquid fuels because they generate higher thrust than solid fuels. He said some advanced liquid propellants can be stored in missiles for a few weeks before takeoff.

Lee said North Korea could have placed a dummy warhead on the Hwasong-19 to make it fly higher.

In recent years, North Korea has reported steady progress in its efforts to obtain nuclear-tipped missiles. Many foreign experts believe that North Korea likely has missiles capable of launching nuclear strikes on all of South Korea, but it does not yet have nuclear missiles capable of striking the U.S. mainland.

Obstacles it still faces, experts say, include ensuring its warheads survive the heat and stress of atmospheric re-entry, improving missile altitude control and guidance systems, and being able to use multiple warheads on a single missile to defeat the missile. defenses.

“Acquiring re-entry technology is currently the most important goal in North Korea’s missile development, especially for ICBMs, but instead they keep increasing the range. This perhaps suggests that they still lack confidence in their re-entry technology,” Lee Sangmin said.

Chang said Friday’s state media report on the launch lacked details on the technological aspects of the Hawsong-19 and focused on publicity.

Other North Korean claims about its military capabilities have drawn widespread outside skepticism.

In June, North Korea claimed to have tested a multi-warhead missile in the first known launch of such a weapon, but South Korea said the weapon instead exploded. In July, when North Korea said it had tested a new tactical ballistic missile capable of carrying “a very large warhead,” South Korea said the claim was an attempt to cover up a botched launch.

Observers say Thursday’s launch, the North’s first ICBM test in nearly a year, was largely intended to attract American attention days before the U.S. presidential election and respond to international condemnation of North Korea sending troops to Russia to support its war against Ukraine.

North Korea’s troop dispatch highlights the expansion of military cooperation between North Korea and Russia. South Korea. the United States and others fear that North Korea is seeking high-tech and sensitive Russian technology to advance its nuclear and missile programs in exchange for participation in the Russo-Ukrainian war.