An expert in the United States think tank has stated that North Korea is almost finished with the making of a ballistic missile facility having the capacity to test-fire intercontinental ballistic missiles, according to South Koren media outlet Yonhap News Agency.
The ballistic missile support facility is located approximately 17 kilometers northwest of Pyongyang and close to Pyongyang International Airport. An expert on North Korea, Joseph Bermudez arrived at the conclusion through satellite imagery. He wrote a report on it for the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
"A new facility is nearing completion near Pyongyang International Airport that is almost certainly related to North Korea's expanding ballistic missile program," Hernandez stated in the report.
"A high-bay building within the facility is large enough to accommodate an elevated Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile and, therefore, the entirety of North Korea's known ballistic missile variants," he added.
According to the report, the construction for the 'previously undisclosed facility' started in mid-2016 which is capacious enough to house all known North Korean ballistic missiles, their associated launchers, and support vehicles.
Moreover, Bermudez stated that the facility had interconnected buildings designed for drive-through access which was conveniently close to ballistic missile component manufacturing plants in the Pyongyang area.
The report described that the building 'has a 37-meter-by-30-meter elevated center section' which was high enough for a Hwasong-14 or Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missiles to be 'elevated into the firing position' for testing of these ballistic missiles.
He said that the facility has been undergoing modernisation and expansion for the past ten years.
He predicted that the construction of the facility may be complete during late 2020, or early 2021.
