nuclear-news

North Korea has ‘undeclared’ ICBM base near China border, according to new report.

ABC News, 23 Aug 25

In short:

A missile base near North Korea’s border with China poses a nuclear threat to Australia, East Asia and the US, a new report and an expert say.

There are likely up to nine nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles and launchers at the secret site.

A retired South Korean Army Lieutenant General says it is a “world problem”.

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 Sinpung-dong Missile Operating Base lies about 27 kilometres from the Chinese frontier, the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said in a report published on 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 US 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 — says 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.

Site built near China to deter attacks

In-Bum Chun, a retired South Korean Army Lieutenant General, told ABC’s Radio National that North Korea believed it could scare the US out of its alliance with South Korea by building these kind of missile bases…………………………………………….https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08-22/north-korea-secret-missile-base/105684760

August 23, 2025 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | North Korea, weapons and war