North Korea has 'undeclared' ICBM base near China border

SEOUL, Aug 21 (AFP): 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 "undeclared" Sinpung-dong Missile Operating Base lies about 27 kilometres (17 miles) from the Chinese frontier, the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said in a report published 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 United States 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-said 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.