North and South Korea Invest in New Missiles

November 2025
By Kelsey Davenport

North and South Korea are advancing their missile programs as talks to reduce tensions on the Korean peninsula appear unlikely in the coming months.

North Korea displayed a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the Hwasong-20, during its Oct. 11 parade commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Workers’ Party. The state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) described the new system as a “super-powerful strategic attack weapon.”

Following the event, South Korea said it will deploy a powerful conventionally armed ballistic missile, the Hyunmoo-5, which is designed to penetrate buried targets to deter North Korea, by the end of the year.

North Korea has tested ICBMs capable of reaching the continental United States, but the Hwasong-20 is more powerful, according to KCNA.

The three-stage, solid-fueled Hwasong-20 appears similar to the Hwasong-19, a solid-fueled ICBM that North Korea tested in 2024. But the tip of the Hwasong-20 is shaped differently, suggesting that it is designed to carry a different payload, possibly multiple warheads. (See ACT, December 2024.)

North Korea has not flight-tested the Hwasong-20, but it has tested the missile engine, which KCNA described in September 
as a “new-type solid-fuel engine using the composite carbon fiber material.”

The Hwasong-20 was transported on an 11-axle transport erector launcher, or TEL, that is similar to the Hwasong-19. North Korea has designed a larger 12-axle TEL that its leader, Kim Jong Un, was pictured with in 2024. The use of the smaller TEL for the Hwasong-20 raises questions about whether North Korea is developing an even larger ICBM that would require the 12-axle TEL.

North Korea also paraded the short-range Hwasong-11E, a nuclear-capable ballistic missile with a hypersonic glide vehicle, for the first time. North Korea has fielded other short-range strategic missiles, but the addition of the hypersonic glide vehicle makes the Hwasong-11E more difficult to intercept using missile defenses.

KCNA described North Korea’s strategic weapons systems as forming the “essence of the military capability for self-defense” and reiterated that the country’s nuclear deterrent “cannot be yielded.” The KCNA commentary echoes Kim’s comments that North Korea will not negotiate with the United States over its nuclear program if the goal is denuclearization.

Top officials from Russia and China attended the anniversary parade and were pictured with Kim.

Prior to the event, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia Party signed a joint statement with North Korea’s Workers’ Party condemning the “aggressive politics of the West.” In the Oct. 9 statement, the United Russia Party expressed “firm support” for the steps North Korea is taking to “bolster up” defense capabilities. The Workers’ Party reiterated its “full support” for Russia’s “special military operations” in Ukraine.

After the parade, South Korea’s defense minister, Ahn Gyu-back, said that his country is preparing to deploy the Hyunmoo-5, a more powerful conventionally armed short-range ballistic missile. South Korea first displayed the system in 2024.

South Korea has been expanding the range and power of its conventional missile capabilities for more than a decade. Although President Lee Jae-Myung has toned down the rhetoric toward North Korea and called for the resumption of dialogue, he appears poised to continue his predecessors’ investments in South Korea’s military capabilities.

In an Oct. 17 interview with Yonhap News Agency, Ahn described the Hyunmoo-5 as a “bunker buster” that will maintain a “balance of terror” to deter North Korea. The “bunker buster” description refers to the Hyunmoo-5’s penetrating ability, which will allow South Korea to target hardened facilities below ground.

Ahn suggested that South Korea intends to mass-produce the missiles. A salvo of 15-20 Hyunmoo-5 missiles would have a destructive effect similar to a nuclear warhead, he said.

Ahn also said that South Korea is planning a new “next-generation missile system” that will have a “significantly enhanced warhead power and range.” South Korea needs to “significantly increase our arsenal of diverse missiles” to counter North Korea, he said.

During a parliamentary defense committee hearing Oct. 13, Ahn reiterated that South Korea’s focus is deterring the threat posed by North Korea. He pushed back against comments from U.S. officials that U.S. Forces Korea should expand its mission to include deterring China.

Currently, USFK focuses on supporting and training joint U.S.-South Korean forces and the United Nations Command, the multilateral force deployed in South Korea to enforce the 1953 armistice agreement that ended the Korean War.

But U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll told reporters Oct. 1 that USFK should be ready to respond to threats from both North Korea and China, according to Korea/Joong Ahn Daily. The commander of USFK, U.S. Army General Xavier Brunson, said during an Aug. 10 press briefing that USFK must demonstrate “strategic flexibility” in response to the complex regional security environment. He suggested that South Korea and the United States may need to “modernize” the alliance to “go after other things.”

But in his Oct. 13 testimony to the National Assembly Defense Committee, Ahn said he disagreed with Driscoll and insisted that under the status of forces agreement between South Korea and the United States, South Korea will not be involved in a regional conflict “against the will of the Korean people.” South Korea’s “foremost objective must be to counter threats from and around the peninsula,” particularly North Korea, he said.