Welcome to North Korean Missiles 101
Kyle Mizokami [2]
North Korea’s ballistic missile program dates back to 1965, when leader Kim Il-sung decided that, were war to break out, North Korea would need a way to hit U.S. bases in Japan. Thus began a fifty-two-year quest for long-range missiles which culminated [3] in the May 12 launch of a Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile. The Hwasong is just the latest in a long line of weapons designed to put even the most distant of Pyongyang’s enemies at risk.
North Korea’s missile program didn’t appear out of nowhere, but is the result of cooperation between Pyongyang, and—of all places—Cairo. The two countries were both interested in gaining a long-range missile capability, and Egypt transferred two Scud B missiles to its Asian ally sometime between 1976 and 1981. This was the seed from which the modern missile program originated. By 1986 North Korea was building missiles of its own—called Hwasong 5 [4]—complete with a 10 to 15 percent increase in range (198 miles).
Source URL (retrieved on May 21, 2017):
http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/welcome-north-korean-missiles-101-20756
