“The primary significance of solid-fuel ICBMs is in terms of what they’ll do for the survivability of North Korea’s overall ICBM force,” he said. “Because these missiles are fueled at the time of manufacture and are thus ready to use as needed, they will be much more rapidly useable in a crisis or conflict, depriving South Korea and the United States of valuable time that could be useful to preemptively hunt and destroy such missiles.” Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, said advancing solid-fuel technology could also be useful for North Korean efforts to expand its tactical nuclear arsenal and pursue submarine-based deterrents.
