North Korea disguises secret missile base as golf course

The North Korea site features wide roads ideal for tractor-erector vehicles and a high-bay building that could accommodate missiles in an upright position. Photo / Middlesbury Institute

• North Korea has disguised a missile launch site as a golf course near Pyongyang.
• The site includes reinforced concrete bases and structures for long-range ballistic missiles.
• Analysts say the facility can accommodate Hwasong-19 missiles, capable of reaching North America and Europe.

North Korea has disguised a launch site for intercontinental ballistic missiles as a golf course.

Until last year, the site was the location of Kim Jong Un’s Winter Palace, also known as the Ryokpo residence, in a heavily-wooded valley about 30km southeast of the capital, Pyongyang.

The complex was recently demolished and replaced with new structures, roads and what appear to be golf greens.

A closer examination of the facilities using near-infrared images over the course of the construction showed that the greens were reinforced with concrete bases in June, with a thin layer of soil added in August. By November, analysts determined that the grass had taken hold and the site resembled a golf course.

But analysts from the Middlesbury Institute’s James Martin Centre for Nonproliferation Studies have said flat areas with concrete bases are ideal launchpads for long-range ballistic missiles, and that some of the other buildings at the site are not typically found at a golf course.

New roads at the site are wide enough to accommodate the tractor-erector vehicles required to manoeuvre the Hwasong-19 missiles into position.

The 28m missile, first launched successfully in October, can carry a nuclear warhead and has a range of nearly 15,000km, which puts all of North America and Europe within range.

Analysts say that some of the other buildings seen at the North Korea site are not typical of a golf course. Photo / Middlesbury Institute

One of the new structures at the site is a four-storey building that is estimated to be 36m high and would be able to accommodate missiles in an upright position.

Sam Lair, a member of the research team, told Radio Free Asia: “While this facility could be used for shorter range systems like the Hwasong-11/KN-23/KN-24 series of missiles, the height of the high-bay building suggests it is also built to allow longer-range systems to operate from it.

“You would not need a 36m high building for just short-range systems”.

Behind the building is another structure that has been covered in earth for greater protection as well as concealment. It could house four launch vehicles.

On Monday, North Korea launched a volley of ballistic missiles into waters off its west coast, coinciding with the start of the Freedom Shield joint US-South Korean military exercises in the South.

The drills will last for 11 days and the South Korean joint chiefs of staff issued a statement that its forces were in a “full readiness posture” and were co-operating closely with US forces.