US Analysts: N. Korea Expanding Rocket Launch Site

A leading U.S. research institute says
new satellite imagery shows North
Korea has embarked on a major
construction program at a launch site
used last year to fire a rocket into orbit.
The U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns
Hopkins School of Advanced
International Studies says the work at
Sohae, a Yellow Sea coastal facility
near the Chinese border, includes what
could be a new launch pad for testing
mobile ballistic missiles.
A research summary posted Friday on
the institute's website, 38 North, said
preliminary analysis of commercial
satellite imagery shows a construction
site 100 meters west of an existing
launch pad on level ground. It said a
launch pad in that position would enable
southward launches similar to the
December 2012 firing of an Unha-3
rocket that defied United Nations'
resolutions.
In July, a North Korean official in
Pyongyang told VOA that another
launch of an Unha vehicle would occur
soon as part of what he called North
Korea's "peaceful use of space." He did
not elaborate.
North Korea is banned from carrying out
any missile or nuclear-related tests by
U.N. resolutions imposed in 2006 and
2009, after it conducted earlier and
unsuccessful nuclear tests.
The December 2012 missile launch
triggered a new round of U.N. sanctions
against the Pyongyang government,
which responded by conducting an
underground nuclear weapons test six
weeks later. The world body imposed
further sanctions for that action,
targeting North Korea's already-anemic
economy and a broader swath of its
leadership with travel restrictions.

A rocket Is Fired During A Drill