Secret North Korean missile base Sino-ri found – and there could be 19 more, say researchers
- The discovery comes as the US and North Korea are coordinating a second summit between the US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un
Researchers have uncovered another secret operational ballistic missile base in North Korea – one of approximately 20 undeclared missile sites in the country – according to a new report released on Monday.
Beyond Parallel, a research project conducted by the Washington-based think tank Centre of Strategic and International Studies, identified the site as Sino-ri, a missile operating base that houses a regiment-sized unit equipped with Nodong-1 medium-range ballistic missiles.
CSIS researchers had previously identified 13 of the estimated 20 undeclared missile operating sites in November last year, which drew concerns among nuclear experts that the hermit country may not be winding down its nuclear arsenal.
“[We] have to negotiate [North Korea’s] existing [nuclear] capabilities,” Victor Cha, one of the authors of the report and senior adviser and Korean chair at the CSIS, urged on Twitter after its release. “Not just past [disclosed] or future ones.”
The newly discovered site is also reported to serve as the headquarters of the Nodong missile brigade, part of country’s Strategic Rocket Forces, the report said, and may also play a role in Pyongyang’s newest Pukkuksong-2 ballistic missile development.