Definitely can't be intercepted if you completely go around the interceptors—launching north, going around the world once, and hitting North America from the so

Definitely can't be intercepted if you completely go around the interceptors—launching north, going around the world once, and hitting North America from the south. That's the fractional-orbit [0] concept the parent comment alludes to. If North Korea were to attack the US in the most cost-effective way – crossing the Pacific east – there's GMD interceptors in Alaska that could try to hit them in space, several thousand km's above the ocean. It's unclear how well those work. The *public* version of the story is that they have about a 60% success rate, against simple targets without countermeasures; and that they intend to fire four interceptors against each incoming warhead to boost this probability [1]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractional_Orbital_Bombardment_System https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractional_Orbital_Bombardment... [1] https://www.economist.com/united-states/2018/01/11/there-is-no-guaranteed-defence-against-ballistic-missiles-yet https://www.economist.com/united-states/2018/01/11/there-is-...