N. Korea could launch Musudan missile before U.S. presidential election

North Korea is getting ready to launch yet another Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missile before the U.S. presidential election to be held on November 8, sources in both South Korea and the United States said Tuesday.

U.S. Fox News cited unidentified U.S. intelligence officials as saying that the North is preparing to conduct a Musudan launch "in the next 24 to 72 hours." The South Korean military is also reportedly paying attention to the possibility in which the North attempts to conduct another launch of the Musudan missile, which exploded immediately after launch last week. U.S. and South Korean surveillance assets have detected movements of the transport, erector, and launch the vehicles across South Korea.

Some observers say that the North will not likely detract public attention from Pyongyang at a time when the political scandal involving South Korean President Park Geun-hye. Experts are paying attention to why Pyongyang is clinging to the missile development despite seven failures out of eight attempted launches since the April 15 launch of the Musudan missile and the high completion level of the KN-14 intercontinental ballistic missile, which Pyongyang considers the last card that would prompt Washington to come to the negotiating table.

The single-rocket Musudan is based on the clustering of two 30-ton force of engines, which were improved from the R-27 engines on the Russian submarine-launched ballistic missiles in the early 1990s. The KN-14 is reportedly based on two-phase rockets – two R-27 improved engines for the first phase and a single engine for the second. In this case, the missile has a range of 9,000 to 10,000 kilometers, capable of striking the U.S. West. Experts say that the North is attempting to pose a direct threat to the U.S. by ultimately developing the KN-14, which would run on the engine developed through the Musudan launches.

"If the Musudan engine is applied to the KN-14, the missile can be launched from a mobile launcher that would be hard to detect with existing surveillance assets," said Jang Young-geun, a professor of aerospace and mechanic engineering at Korea Aerospace University.

손효주기자 hjson@donga.com · 워싱턴=이승헌 특파원ddr@donga.com