North Korea built a secret missile base just miles from the Chinese border, likely housing missiles capable of hitting the mainland U.S., the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) revealed in a Wednesday report.
The base, which has not been declared to exist by Pyongyang, is located in North Korea, roughly 17 miles from their shared border with China and likely housing multiple Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM) capable of reaching the US mainland and beyond, according to a CSIS analysis of open-source data. North Korea has operated 15 to 20 such bases to bolster its nuclear arsenal and has repeatedly threatened the West and its allies with strikes should it ever perceive a threat to its national security.
“Current assessments are that during times of crisis or war, these launchers and missiles will exit the base, meet special warhead storage/transportation units, and conduct launch operations from dispersed pre-surveyed sites,” the report reads.
The base began construction around 2004 and became operational around 2014, according to CSIS analysis. The base is capable of moving missiles and launch vehicles stored inside the base to their pre-surveyed launch sites in the event of an attack.
North Korean ICBMs are known to have a maximum range of 15,000 kilometers, according to the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance.
North Korea is estimated to have around 50 nuclear weapons in total, and the fissile material to make 70 to 90 more, according to the Arms Control Association in June. Pyongyang has aggressively tested its ballistic missile arsenal to deter the West, especially South Korea, its sworn enemy for nearly 80 years.
China has been a long-standing ally of North Korea since the end of the Korean War in 1953, signing a mutual defense treaty in 1961. However, China has been less outwardly enthusiastic about Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions, even supporting United Nations sanctions against the nation for proliferating weapons of mass destruction.
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