North Korea facility capable of firing long-range missiles nears completion

• The construction of the Sil-li Ballistic Missile Support Facility in North Korea is reportedly set to be completed later this year.
• Experts warned that the facility is capable of firing long-range missiles and nuclear weapons that could reach anywhere in the United States.
• US officials have previously surmised that North Korea continued testing such powerful weapons in the absence of a denuclearization deal.

The construction of the Sil-li Ballistic Missile Support Facility in North Korea, which is capable of firing long-range nuclear weapons, is reportedly nearing completion.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) issued the advisory this week based on clear satellite images of the said facility.

CSIS said that the facility, located near the capital city of Pyongyang, appears ready to assemble, store, and fire “the entirety of North Korea’s known ballistic missile variants,” some of which could reach anywhere in the United States.

The Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), in particular, could reach the US East Coast.

Physicist David Wright had previously warned that the missile would have “more than enough range to reach Washington, D.C., and in fact any part of the continental United States.”

CSIS estimates that the facility could be completed later this year.

Construction of the facility started in 2016. According to the CSIS report published on Tuesday, the facility features an unusually large covered rail terminal, as well as buildings linked by drive-through access. It is also located relatively close to Pyongyang’s manufacturing plants of ballistic missile components.

The report stated, “Taken as a whole, these characteristics suggest that this facility is likely designed to support ballistic missile operations.”

US officials have previously surmised that North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un has continued expanding its arsenal of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles in the absence of a denuclearization deal.

The negotiations between North Korea and the US regarding the dismantling of the former’s nuclear and missile programs have stopped last year.

North Korea has also expressed in recent months that it is rethinking its self-imposed moratorium on nuclear weapons tests and ICBM launches.

Source: New York Post