North Korea has begun rapidly rebuilding a shuttered satellite launch facility that can also be used to launch ballistic missiles at Japan and South Korea, and probably the United States.
It began dismantling the Sohae Satellite Launching Station along the border with China in July 2018. New satellite images were taken March 2 (or two days after the failed Trump-Kim summit in Vietnam) clearly show rebuilding at Sohae, which is North Korea's only space launch facility.
South Korean think-tank Beyond Parallel, which broke the news about Sohae, said the technology used to launch satellites in Earth orbit is similar to that used to launch intercontinental ballistic missiles.
North Korea is pursuing the "rapid rebuilding" of the long-range rocket site at Sohae Launch Facility, according to new commercial imagery and analysis from the researchers at Beyond Parallel. It was from Sohae that the North Korean satellite Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3 Unit 2 was successfully launched and placed into low Earth orbit in December 2012.
"This renewed activity, taken just two days after the inconclusive Hanoi Summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, may indicate North Korean plans to demonstrate resolve in the face of U.S. rejection of North Korea's demands at the summit to lift five U.N. Security Council sanctions enacted in 2016-2017," said a report from Beyond Parallel.
Beyond Parallel said the photos show evident work at the rocket engine test stand and the launch pad's rail-mounted rocket transfer structure.
Satellite images taken in late July 2018 showed the destruction of a rocket engine test stand used to develop liquid-fuel engines for ballistic missiles and space-launch vehicles. Images taken in August confirmed dismantling activities were taking place at Sohae. The images also showed the destruction of the facility's vertical engine test stand and fuel/oxidizer bunkers.
Beyond Parallel said the facility has been dormant since August 2018, "indicating the current activity is deliberate and purposeful." It is these facilities that are apparently being rebuilt today.
"The activity they are undertaking now is consistent with preparations for a test, though the imagery thus far does not show a missile being moved to the launch pad," said Victor Cha of Beyond Parallel.
"The activity on the ground shows us that they do have a (nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile) capability that is not just developmental but in the prototype phase. They've already tested a few of these and it looks like they're preparing the launch pad for another act."
The same day the satellite photos at Sohae were taken, Trump boasted his talks with Kim in Hanoi were "very productive," further claiming he and Kim had "made great historic progress."
