Attention is growing for the new military operations of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who in the last few hours has visited the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground, a site for tests and satellite and missile launches on the west coast, asking for its expansion and modernization.
The KCNA reports, according to which Kim "has learned and assessed the current situation and has announced the task of modernizing and expanding it so that various rockets can be launched to carry multi-purpose satellites, including a military reconnaissance one".
Seoul and Washington have concluded that recent "reconnaissance satellite" tests are aimed at a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) system.
Kim "has also established the task of building some structures," added the KCNA dispatch. To allow the launch of "large carrier rockets", the leader also assigned tasks for the construction of the "launch area and facilities for the general and test assembly of the rocket and satellite". These tasks also include "the creation of extra facilities for the injection and supply of fuel and the modernization of parts of the launch control facility and important technical stations".
Kim, who carried out the field inspection wearing a black aviator-style leather jacket and dark sunglasses, provided instruction on "site capacity expansion issues", among the best solutions for carrier transport and protection. of the environment "around the launching ground".
The Sohae site has been used in the past to put a satellite into orbit and to test various missile technologies, including static engines and space launch vehicles which, according to experts in Seoul and Washington, require technologies similar to those used for intercontinental ballistic missiles.
(Unioneonline / vl)