North Korea has built a secret military base near its border with China which may house Pyongyang's newest long-range ballistic missiles, according to new research.
The Sinpung-dong Missile Operating Base lies about 27 kilometres from the Chinese frontier, the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said in a report published on Wednesday.
The facility in North Pyongan Province likely houses six to nine nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and their launchers, the study said.
It said the weapons "pose a potential nuclear threat to East Asia and the continental United States".
North Korea has ramped up its nuclear weapons programme since a failed summit with the US in 2019, and leader Kim Jong Un recently called for the "rapid expansion" of the diplomatically isolated nation's nuclear capability.
The report — which CSIS called the first in-depth, open-source confirmation of Sinpung-dong — says the base is one of about "15-20 ballistic missile bases, maintenance, support, missile storage, and warhead storage facilities which North Korea has never declared".
The facility is "not known to have been the subject of any denuclearisation negotiations previously conducted between the United States and North Korea", the study said.
Citing their analysts' current assessments, CSIS said the launchers and missiles could leave the base in times of crisis or war, link up with special units and conduct harder-to-detect launches from other parts of the country.
The base, along with others, "represent the primary components of what is presumed to be North Korea's evolving ballistic missile strategy, and its expanding strategic-level nuclear deterrence and strike capabilities", the report said.
Site built near China to deter attacks
In-Bum Chun, a retired South Korean Army Lieutenant General, told ABC's Radio National that North Korea believed it could scare the US out of its alliance with South Korea by building these kind of missile bases.
"And thereby, with the withdrawal of US forces from Korea and the lifting of extended deterrence, they would have a free hand to communise the Korean Peninsula," he said.
"So, it's only a natural progression for the North Koreans to do something like this to develop that capability."
General Chun said the site was likely built so close to the border with China to reduce the chance of it being attacked by Western forces.
"Any attempt by the free world to neutralise the site would have the danger of drawing in the Chinese," he said.
Given the potential range of the ICBMs — which could strike as far as Australia or the US — the site was described by General Chun as a "world problem".
Pyongyang draws closer to Moscow
Tensions on the Korean peninsula remain high. Pyongyang has ramped up rhetoric against Seoul and the US via Kim Yo Jong — the sister of leader Kim Jong Un.
And, given North Korea won't give up its nuclear weapons, the chances of a diplomatic resolution remain slim, General Chun said.
"I am absolutely sure that the free world, especially South Korea, must negotiate from a position of strength," he said.
Mr Kim's 2019 summit with US President Donald Trump in Vietnam collapsed because the two sides disagreed on what Pyongyang would concede in return for sanctions relief.
Since then, North Korea has repeatedly said it would never give up its weapons and declared itself an "irreversible" nuclear state.
And, in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Pyongyang has drawn closer to Moscow.
South Korean and Western intelligence agencies have said the North sent over 10,000 soldiers to Russia in 2024 — primarily to the Kursk region — along with artillery shells, missiles and long-range rocket systems.
Mr Trump has held high-profile talks with Russian and Ukrainian leaders in recent days in a bid to end the conflict.
Washington says there is evidence that Russia is stepping up support for North Korea, including providing help on advanced space and satellite technology, in return for its assistance in fighting Ukraine.
Analysts say satellite launchers and ICBMs share much of the same underlying technology.
ABC/AFP
