North Korea opens museum with missile capable of reaching USA

O north Korean leader Kim Jong-un inaugurated the Museum of the National Defense Revolution, with weapons on display – including a ballistic missile capable of reaching the United States – today reported state news agency KCNA.

Kim, accompanied by leaders of the Korean Workers' Party and his wife and daughter, participated on Sunday at the inauguration of the museum on the occasion of the 81st anniversary of the founding of the party, without Pyongyang having provided information on the location of the museum space.

At the ceremony, the North Korean leader cut the inaugural tape and, along with the remaining participants, traveled through a museum whose rooms range from personal combat equipment to drones and missiles, including an intercontinental ballistic missile Hwasong-20, which has a range of 15,000 kilometers and was designed to transport multiple nuclear warheads.

The museum addresses, according to North Korea, the “great fruits” of the party in the military domain and “constitutes a great national treasure of eternal importance that displays the unwavering spirit and the strong revolutionary will of the Korean people, as well as the absolute power” of the country.

The news was released the day after American President Donald Trump stated that he considered it plausible to meet Kim as part of the trip to Shenzhen, in southeast China, where the summit of the leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC) takes place between November 18 and 19.

In August, the Republican President ordered the reduction of the maneuvers that Washington and Seoul perform every summer — exercises that Pyongyang considers a threat —, a gesture that may have pleased Kim, with whom Trump repeatedly stated to maintain an excellent relationship.

On the other hand, the museum was inaugurated the day before the North Korean authorities launched a tactical ballistic missile.

Today they said it was “a great success”, in a context of increasing tests of this type compared to 2025 and escalating tensions with South Korea, following the explosion of two mines that left three South Korean soldiers injured.

In this context, Seoul accused Pyongyang of setting the explosives and demanded an apology, in addition to having carried out a week ago a mine clearance operation in the area, while the North Korean authorities denied any involvement and accused the South Koreans of lying to justify provocations at the border.