APT Opinion: Hwasong-20, Hwasong-18, Hwasong-17 — North Korea’s Missile Breakout Explained | APT

APT Opinion: North Korea’s missile program is no longer a regional threat—it is a full-spectrum nuclear force. Tonight, we break down how systems like the Hwasong-20, Hwasong-18, Hwasong-17, and the hypersonic Hwasong-16B have transformed Pyongyang into one of the most heavily armed nuclear states on Earth.

For years, Western analysts dismissed North Korea as poor, starving, and technologically backward. But while the world looked elsewhere, Pyongyang built an arsenal that now includes:

• Hwasong-20: a massive, 80-ton, solid-fuel ICBM with MIRVs and a possible 15,000 km range
• Hwasong-18: a deployed, modern, road-mobile ICBM resembling Russia’s Topol-M
• Hwasong-17: heavy liquid-fuel ICBM capable of intercontinental flight
• Hwasong-16B: North Korea’s first hypersonic glide-vehicle missile
• KN-23, KN-24, KN-25: short-range nuclear-capable tactical systems
• Pukguksong-5 SLBMs & the Hero Kim Gun-ok submarine: giving North Korea real second-strike capability

All of this under crushing sanctions, with limited industrial capacity—and yet, the results rival the arsenals of much richer nations.

North Korea’s goal is simple: build a survivable, diverse, and mobile nuclear shield that makes any regime-change operation impossible. Whether the world likes it or not, Pyongyang has succeeded.

Is North Korea now a global nuclear power? Has the world underestimated Kim Jong Un’s arsenal for too long?
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