Tokyo: Analysts say a half dozen ominous new North Korean missiles showcased at a lavish military parade were clumsy fakes. Their conclusions cast more doubt on the country’s claims of military prowess after its recent rocket launch failure.
The weapons displayed on April 15 appear to be a mish-mash of liquid-fuel and solid-fuel components that could never fly together. Undulating casings on the missiles suggest the metal is too thin to withstand flight. Each missile was slightly different from the others, even though all were supposedly the same make. They don’t even fit the launchers they were carried on. Two analysts who detail those discrepancies in a paper posted recently on the website Arms controlwonk.com say there is no doubt that the missiles were mock-ups. (AP)
