North Korea disguises secret missile base as golf course
North Korea is hiding a new launch site for intercontinental ballistic missiles in plain sight, disguising the base as a golf course on the outskirts of Pyongyang.
The site was until last year the location of Kim Jong-un's Winter Palace, also known as the Ryokpo residence, in a heavily wooded valley about 20 miles south-east of the capital.
However, the palace complex was recently demolished and replaced with a series of new structures, roads and what appear to be golf greens.
A closer examination of the facilities using near-infrared images over the course of the construction showed that the greens were reinforced with concrete bases in June, with a thin layer of soil added in August. By November, analysts determined that the grass had taken hold and the site resembled a golf course.
But analysts from the Middlesbury Institute's James Martin Centre for Nonproliferation Studies have said that flat areas with concrete bases are ideal launch pads for long-range ballistic missiles and that some of the other buildings at the site are not typically found at a golf course.
New roads at the site are wide enough to accommodate the tractor-erector vehicles required to manoeuvre the Hwasong-19 ICBM into position. The 92-foot missile was first successfully launched in October 2024, can carry a nuclear warhead and has a range of at least 9,300 miles, putting all of North America and Europe within range.
One of the new buildings at the site is a four-storey building that is estimated to be 118ft high and would be able to accommodate missiles in an upright position.
Sam Lair, a member of the research team, told Radio Free Asia: 'While this facility could be used for shorter range systems like the Hwasong-11/KN-23/KN-24 series of missiles, the height of the high-bay building suggests it is also built to allow longer-range systems to operate from it.'
He added: 'You would not need a 36 meters [118 feet] high building for just short-range systems'.
Behind the building is another structure that has been covered in earth, for greater protection as well as concealment, that could house four launch vehicles.
North Korea on Monday launched a volley of ballistic missiles into waters off its west coast, coinciding with the start of the Freedom Shield joint US-South Korean military exercises in the South.
The drills will last for 11 days and the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff issued a statement that its forces were in a 'full readiness posture' and were closely cooperating with US forces.
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