NBC News – North Korea has a covert military base near the Chinese border that poses a “potential nuclear threat” to the United States mainland, according to new research.
The Sinpung-dong Missile Operating Base is about 17 miles from the border with China in the North Korean province of North Pyongan, researchers from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank in Washington, said in a report Wednesday.
The base could contain six to nine of North Korea’s advanced intercontinental ballistic missiles, along with their mobile launchers and thousands of soldiers, the report said. Though the weapons are not likely to be mounted with nuclear warheads, they are capable of carrying them.
“These missiles pose a potential nuclear threat to East Asia and the continental United States,” the report said.
The site, which the report said North Korea has never referred to publicly, was only recently discovered despite a strict international regime intended to limit further development of North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
Researchers said the report was based on interviews with defectors and officials around the world, as well as declassified documents, satellite images and open-source information.
The report said the weapons at the base could include North Korea’s nuclear-capable Hwasong-15 or Hwasong-18 ICBMs, or a missile that has yet to be revealed.
“Current assessments are that during times of crisis or war, these launchers and missiles will exit the base, meet special warhead storage/transportation units, and conduct launch operations from dispersed pre-surveyed sites.”
According to the latest estimate from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, North Korea has assembled about 50 nuclear warheads and has enough fissile material to produce up to 40 more.
Construction of the Sinpung-dong base began around 2004 and it was “generally complete and operational” by 2014, the report said. Satellite images suggest the base continues to be developed and “is active and being well-maintained by North Korean standards,” it said.
It is one of about 15 to 20 ballistic missile bases and related facilities across the country that North Korea has never declared, the report said.
Since the breakdown of denuclearization talks between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in 2019, North Korea has been steadily advancing its weapons programs in defiance of international sanctions.
It has also strengthened security ties with Russia, including sending arms and troops to fight in its war against Ukraine in exchange for support that experts say could include technological assistance with its weapons programs.
Experts say North Korea is likely to be even more determined to pursue nuclear deterrence after U.S. strikes against three Iranian nuclear facilities in June.
On Monday, Kim called for a rapid nuclear buildup amid annual U.S.-South Korea joint military exercises that Pyongyang sees as a rehearsal for invasion.
Though Trump has expressed an interest in resuming in-person diplomacy with Kim, his regime has dismissed the idea and says the United States must accept North Korea as a nuclear power.
