Source: Reuters | Editor: Khomarul Hidayat
KONTAN.CO.ID – WASHINGTON. North Korea is apparently preparing a new weapon. A satellite image photograph photographed a North Korean shipyard on Friday, showing activity signaling preparations for a mid-range submarine-launched ballistic missile test.
A think tank from the United States, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said the image published on its website shows the situation at the North Korean Sinpo shipyard showing several ships in a safe vessel basin. One of them resembles the ship previously used to tow the submarine’s test barges into the sea.
It said the activities were suggestive, but not conclusive, of preparations for North Korea’s Pukguksong-3 submarine ballistic missile test.
Reuters reported that in October last year, Korea had successfully conducted a test fire of the Pukguksong-3, a new submarine-launched ballistic missile as part of efforts to contain external threats and improve self-defense.
The launch was seen by analysts as the most provocative by North Korea since entering into dialogue with the United States over its nuclear weapons and missile program in 2018.
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North Korea has suspended long-range missile and nuclear tests since 2017, but efforts led by US President Donald Trump to persuade it to give up its nuclear and missile programs have made little progress.
There was no immediate comment from the US State Department or the Pentagon on the CSIS report.
At an earlier press conference, Trump praised his relationship with North Korea. Trump said when he was elected people expected him to go to war with the country within a week.
“Meanwhile, we are familiar with them. We are not at war, “he said.
Trump has endured no nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests since 2017 as a success of his diplomacy and has sought to play down many of the short-range tests in that period.
“North Korea tested the PKS-3 SLBM last October. And it hasn’t crossed Trump’s red line, and it’s unlikely this time around. Trump wouldn’t care, “wrote Vipin Narang, a non-proliferation expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Twitter.
The South Korean military said the Pukguksong-3 tested last year flew 450 km (280 miles) and reached an altitude of 910 km (565 miles) and would have a range of about 1,300 km (800 miles) on a standard trajectory.
News of activity in Sinpo came amid signs that North Korea may be preparing for a major military parade in October. This military parade is believed some analysts could use to show off new missiles as the country has done at such events in the past.
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