| Commercial satellite imagery suggests that North Korea has completed a major construction project to upgrade its Sohae Satellite Launching Station. / Yonhap |
North Korea has completed the expansion of its main rocket launch site on the country's northwest coast and a new rocket launch could come before the end of the year, a U.S. think tank said Wednesday.
Since late last year, the North has worked to upgrade the Sohae Satellite Launching Station to accommodate larger rockets with heavier payloads. Recent satellite imagery shows that the project has been completed, according to the website 38 North.
"North Korea is now ready to move forward with another rocket launch. Should a decision be made soon to do so in Pyongyang, a rocket could be launched by the end of 2014," said the website run by the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
According the report, the garrison and support base for the main construction unit, which was built in the summer of last year, was completely dismantled between Aug. 11 and Sept. 4. Beginning in August, 21 small shelters were also removed, it said.
In December 2012, the North put a satellite into orbit on an Unha-3 long-range rocket, fired from the Sohae launch pad in a surprise move that demonstrated to the world that it has moved closer to developing a nuclear missile that can reach the U.S. mainland.
The most likely candidate for a new launch is still the Unha-3 rocket because a much larger rocket reportedly under development is at least several years from becoming operational, according to the website.
"Continuing activities on the ground at Sohae merit close watching. Imagery from mid-September spotted tanks near the propellant storage buildings at the launch pad for the first time since the 2012 launch," it said, adding the exact purpose of the activity is unclear.
Earlier in the day, the website released a separate photo of the launch site, saying the North is believed to have carried out yet another engine test of its new intercontinental ballistic missile, the KN-08.
The test of the missile's first-stage engine took place in mid-August, adding to a series of KN-08 engine tests Pyongyang has carried out since late 2013, said Joel Wit, a security expert who now serves as editor of the website specializing on North Korea issues.
"If we see these tests being completed and there's no more, that tells us that the North Koreans may be moving on to possible full-scale tests of the KN-08 in the future because this is a stepping stone to missile tests of that particular weapon," Wit said during a forum on North Korea at the university.
The missile is believed to have a range of at least 5,500 km, which puts Alaska at risk.
Wit said he believes that Adm. Samuel Locklear, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, was referring to the progress the North has made in the development of the KN-08 in a media interview last week.
Locklear told the Bloomberg Government news service that the North is taking steps to deploy the KN-08. He also expressed concern the missile is harder to keep an eye on as it can be launched from mobile launchers, stressing that building a missile defense system for such weapons is a priority.
"They are moving forward, as Adm. Locklear said, with the development of a road-mobile ICBM," Wit said. (Yonhap)