Kim Jong-un ‘secretly building huge base for nuke missiles that can strike the US’ as world is ravaged by coronavirus
KIM Jong-un is building a top secret base for nuclear missiles which can strike anywhere in the US, claim new reports.
Satellite images appear to show North Korea is constructing a giant storage and assembly area for its controversial ballistic arsenal while the world is distracted by the coronavirus outbreak.
The new base – close to Pyongyang’s main airport – includes underground storage areas and buildings tall enough to accommodate the terrifying Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
The Sun Online has already reported how the rogue state’s dictator sees the mighty missile as a military “game changer” as it brings his enemies into range.
According to new analysis by a US think tank the massive military site is likely to be finished by the end of this year or early next year.
“While the precise function of the facility is unclear, its configuration and the size of its buildings and UGF [underground facility] indicate that it can be used for the assembly of ballistic missiles from components delivered by rail from nearby factories,” said the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies.
The report’s author Joseph Bermudez said the “Sil-li Ballistic Missile Support Facility” could “accommodate all known and anticipated North Korean ballistic missiles and their . . . launchers [for] maintenance, storage of ballistic missiles and their transporters.”
There are about 17 air defence bases and barracks within three miles of the base, which is protected by surface-to-air missiles.
When the Hwasong-15 was test fired in November 2017 it was celebrated in North Korean state media as a “new-type inter-continental ballistic rocket weaponry system capable of carrying super-heavy nuclear warhead and attacking the whole mainland of the US.”
The satellite images of the site show the buildings are connected by a wide surfaced road network which could help move large trucks and ballistic missile launchers, reports the Times.
They emerged just days after it was claimed Kim had been spotted at a fertilizer factory which some fear is a front for his weapons programme.
During 2018, North Korea and the US started a period of negotiations about Kim’s controversial nuclear ambitions which led to three separate meetings between Kim and President Trump.
Before their first summit in Singapore, he agreed to suspend nuclear and ICBM testing, a promise that he has apparently kept until now.
Those talks eventually failed due to Trump’s insistence on North Korean denuclearization and Kim’s demand for the removal of international sanctions.
At a second summit in Hanoi, the president insisted on an “all or nothing” agreement on Kim’s controversial arsenal.
He said North Korea must give up all of its nuclear arsenal and stocks of chemical and biological weapons.
However, Kim then insisted the two sides must first build up trust through a series of lesser agreements.
He offered to close his nuclear plant at Yongbyon in return for the partial removal of international sanctions, which Trump refused.
MOST READ IN NEWS
Earlier this year, Kim threatened to unleash a “new strategic weapon” in a New Year’s address railing against President Trump.
He said his country was to end a moratorium on nuclear tests after what he called “gangster-like” demands by the United States.
He said he would now look to secure a nuclear deterrent, and that the US would “suffer helplessly” in any conflict between the two countries.