North Korean’s flocked to Pyongyang to examine the Hwasong-14 and Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missiles, as well as what appeared to be a mysterious new missile.
According to analysts, unlike the Hwasong design, the new missile is much smaller in comparison to others.
Twitter user oryxspioenkop, who is the author of the military blog Oryx, said the new missile looked like “a copy of the Russian 9K720 Iskander”.
Justin Bronk, a military expert at the Royal United Services Institute, also pointed out that the low-key projectile had a striking similarity to the Iskander missile.
He said: “The missile looks enormously like Iskander missiles and not a missile that North Korea has been seen with before.”
Mike Ellen, a missile expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said, however, that it was “inconsistent with Iskander” and that it was instead likely just a copy of South Korea’s Hyunmoo-2 missile system.
The hermit kingdom also did not formally unveil any new missile.
Meanwhile, Kim Jong-un signalled to be open to entering peace talks with Seoul by agreeing to form a joint ice hockey team for the highly-anticipated Games, which take place just 50 miles from the contentious Korean border.
But Korea Institute of Liberal Democracy Director Yoo Dong-ryul warned it would be “crazy” to try to resolve the North Korean crisis with peace talks.
He said: “I personally say it’s crazy to deal with the North Korea problem through peaceful talks.”
Fears of a nuclear World War 3 have not been so high since the Cold War after US President Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un began their war of words of missiles and weaponry.
At an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council in December, the US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, warned that “if war comes, make no mistake, the North Korean regime will be utterly destroyed”.
Mr Yoo added: “For 70 years we have been fooled by the North.
“They are not in their right mind.”
Mr Yoo already expressed doubts about Kim’s diplomatic turn, suggesting North Korea could exploit the Pyeongchang Olympics to “cause trouble”.
He said: “North Korea will cause trouble one way or another in order to interrupt the successful completion of the Games.
“In all the years the Kim dynasty has been in power, North Korea has never once properly cooperated with South Korea.”
Last month Malcolm Nance, a former US intelligence officer, said Mr Trump could wipe out the rogue state with a nuke in as little as 35 minutes.
He said: “That’s about the time it takes a Minuteman-III ICBM to travel from the Great Plains to Pyongyang.”