North Korea keeps undeclared missile bases up and running: U.S. think tank

[webfact]

North Korea keeps undeclared missile bases up and running: U.S. think tank

By Josh Smith

 

 

FILE PHOTO: North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un looks on during the test-fire of inter-continental ballistic missile Hwasong-14 in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang, July, 4 2017. KCNA/via REUTERS/File photo

 

SEOUL (Reuters) - A U.S. think tank said on Monday it had identified at least 13 of an estimated 20 undeclared missile operating bases inside North Korea, underscoring the challenge for American negotiators hoping to persuade Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons and long-range missiles.

 

In reports released by the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, researcher Joseph Bermudez said maintenance and minor infrastructure improvements have been observed at some of the sites, despite the ongoing negotiations.

 

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump pledged to work toward denuclearisation at their landmark June summit in Singapore, but the agreement was short on specifics and negotiations have made little headway.

 

Shortly after that summit, Trump tweeted that "there is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea."

 

North Korea declared its nuclear force "complete" and halted missile and nuclear bomb testing earlier this year, but U.S. and South Korean negotiators have yet to elicit from Pyongyang a concrete declaration of the size or scope of the weapons programmes, or a promise to stop deploying its existing arsenal.

 

North Korea has said it has closed its Punggye-ri nuclear testing site and the Sohae missile engine test facility. It also raised the possibility of shuttering more sites and allowing international inspections if Washington took "corresponding measures," of which there has so far been no sign.

 

Asked whether those hidden sites went against the spirit of the summit and North Korea must give them up, a State Department official said Trump has made clear that "should Chairman Kim follow through on his commitments - including complete denuclearisation and the elimination of ballistic missile programs - a much brighter future lies ahead for North Korea and its people."

 

Last week, North Korea called off a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in New York, and state media said on Monday the resumption of some small-scale military drills by South Korea and the United States violated a recent agreement aimed at lowering tensions on the Korean peninsula.

 

The sites identified in the CSIS report are scattered in remote, mountainous areas across North Korea, and could be used to house ballistic missiles of various ranges, with the largest believed to be capable of striking anywhere in the United States.

 

"Missile operating bases are not launch facilities," Bermudez wrote. "While missiles could be launched from within them in an emergency, Korean People's Army (KPA) operational procedures call for missile launchers to disperse from the bases to pre-surveyed or semi-prepared launch sites for operations."

 

None of the missile bases have been acknowledged by North Korea, and analysts say an accurate disclosure of nuclear weapons and missile capabilities would be an important part of any denuclearisation deal.

 

Sakkanmol, the site closest to the border with South Korea and its capital Seoul, appears to be "active and being reasonably well maintained," the report found.

 

"North Korea's decommissioning of the Sohae satellite launch facility, while gaining much media attention, obscures the military threat to U.S. forces and South Korea from this and other undeclared ballistic missile bases," Bermudez said.

 

(Reporting by Josh Smith in Seoul, additional reporting by David Brunnstrom and Matt Spetalnick in Washington; editing by Darren Schuettler and James Dalgleish)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-11-13

[YetAnother]

41 minutes ago, webfact said:

U.S. and South Korean negotiators have yet to elicit from Pyongyang a concrete declaration of the size or scope of the weapons programmes, or a promise to stop deploying its existing arsenal.

far from a cushy ambassadorship in a country with good weather, good food and no problems, how would you like to be a foreign diplomat and have to deal with slippery liars like the n koreans ?

[Langsuan Man]

So much for all that winning we are getting from the Trump camp on North Korea and it's unwavering faith in the orange one 

 

[Phuketshrew]

Is that a dainty snooker cue or a massive spliff he's got there?

[mtls2005]

I'm guessing that Nobel Peace Prize is slipping out of his tiny hands? Slippery little thing.

 

Maybe he can claim the moral high ground with Saudi Arabia and Yemen? (kidding)

 

It is still amazing that there has not been word one about what was said/agreed upon, during his "private time" with Kim in Singapore. /transparency 

 

In North Korea, Missile Bases Suggest a Great Deception

 

WASHINGTON — North Korea is moving ahead with its ballistic missile program at 16 hidden bases that have been identified in new commercial satellite images, a network long known to American intelligence agencies but left undiscussed as President Trump claims to have neutralized the North’s nuclear threat.

 

The satellite images suggest that the North has been engaged in a great deception: It has offered to dismantle a major launching site — a step it began, then halted — while continuing to make improvements at more than a dozen others that would bolster launches of conventional and nuclear warheads.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/12/us/politics/north-korea-missile-bases.html

[Thailand]

I thought they would do that, guess that makes me  one man think tank!

[klauskunkel]

39 minutes ago, Thailand said:

I thought they would do that, guess that makes me  one man think tank!

good thinking!

[Spike1938]

2 hours ago, Langsuan Man said:

So much for all that winning we are getting from the Trump camp on North Korea and it's unwavering faith in the orange one 

 

The great deal maker has been had. He should have stuck with the Iran deal as that one was certified by everyone else was working. This guy could screw up a wet dream.

[mtls2005]

13 minutes ago, Spike1938 said:

This guy could screw up a wet dream.

 

Or at least pay $130,000 for it.

 

 

[Tug]

thanks Donald give them stature in the world piss off the Chinese get that shadow trading going strong weaken our hand yup folks guess we have to face it a rouge nation armed with nukes thought we had them on the ropes till Donald stepped in

[Srikcir]

6 hours ago, Langsuan Man said:

So much for all that winning we are getting from the Trump camp on North Korea

Who can forget:
“Just landed—a long trip, but everybody can now feel much safer than the day I took office. There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea.

President Obama said that North Korea was our biggest and most dangerous problem. No longer—sleep well tonight!”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-theres-no-longer-a-nuclear-threat-from-north-korea

I'd say Kim is sleeping well every night.

[farcanell]

What?

Wait.... Did Kim get his Maccas already?

 

[Tailwagsdog]

The yanks have got it all wrong. ..they're ice cream factories.

[sammieuk1]

Stunned does that mean Mr Kim is as untrustworthy as Mr Don????  

[tifino]

The think tank is just a bunch of chess players hell bent on making sure the US's profitable  Arms industry stays $$$ funded - at the same time trying to destabilize the Don's cushions.