[Asia Economy Reporter Hyungsoo Park] Defense industry-related stocks such as Big Tech and Speco are showing strong performance. The news that North Korea has unveiled strategic weapons such as intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) and submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) appears to have influenced stock prices.
At 9:30 a.m. on the 25th, Big Tech was trading at 11,500 won, up 20.93% from the previous day. Speco is also rising more than 10%.
On the 25th, the U.S. think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) analyzed that recent activities suggesting preparations for an SLBM test launch were detected at North Korea’s Sinpo Shipyard in South Hamgyong Province.
There is growing speculation that North Korea may launch an SLBM around October 10, the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party of Korea, to showcase its technological capabilities. The appearance of North Korea’s SLBM is expected to bring significant changes to the situation on the Korean Peninsula. SLBMs are known as powerful strategic weapons that are difficult to detect before launch and, if successful in miniaturizing and lightening nuclear warheads, can strike the U.S. mainland.
Gilju Ban, Senior Research Fellow at the Korea Maritime Strategy Institute, argued that if North Korea deploys SLBMs in actual combat, it would mean completing its nuclear program.
However, South Korean and U.S. intelligence agencies believe that the likelihood of North Korea conducting an actual SLBM or ICBM test launch before the U.S. presidential election on November 3 is low.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
