North Korea Working Towards 2nd Strike Capabilities: Satellite Photos Show N. Korean Test Stand for Submarine Missile

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Satellite Photos Show N. Korean Test Stand for Submarine Missile

Imagery bolsters reports of SLBM development

Satellite images of a North Korean submarine facility show what appears to be a missile tube being developed for a future ballistic missile submarine.

The commercial imagery was disclosed Tuesday in an article published Tuesday by the group 38 North.

The photos show was appears to be a test stand for a submarine-launched ballistic missile.

“A review of commercial satellite imagery since 2010 covering submarine bases and submarine shipyards has identified a new test stand at the North’s Sinpo South Shipyard, probably intended to explore the possibility of launching ballistic missiles from submarines or of a shipboard vertical launch ballistic missile capability,” wrote Joseph S. Bermudez Jr., a North Korea expert with AllSource Analysis, Inc.

The imagery obtained from DigitalGlobe, Inc. confirms a report first disclosed by the Free Beacon in August that North Korea was working to develop a submarine capable of launching ballistic missiles, potentially increasing the nuclear threat from the reclusive communist state.

U.S. intelligence agencies first reported the North Korean submarine missile development in internal reports last summer and the reports were later confirmed by South Korea’s military.

According to 38 North, “the new installation is the right size and design to be used for the research, development, and testing of the process of ejecting a missile out of a launch tube as well as evaluating its compatibility with submarines and surface combatants as well as the missiles themselves.”

The report said a future North Korean missile-firing sub would give Pyongyang a survivable second-strike nuclear capability.

Meanwhile, the commander of U.S. forces in Korea said last week that he believes North Korea now has the capability to make a nuclear warhead for a missile.

Army Gen. Curtis Scaparratti, the commander, was asked by reporters about North Korea’s nuclear warhead capability and said the regime claims it already has miniaturized a weapon to fit on an intercontinental-range missile.

“Personally, I think that they certainly have had the expertise in the past,” Scaparratti said. “They’ve had the right connections. And so I believe they have the capability to have miniaturized the device at this point, and they have the technology to potentially actually deliver what they say they have.”

No nuclear warhead has been tested on a missile but “I don’t think as a commander we can afford the luxury of believing perhaps they haven’t gotten there,” he said.

Scaparratti said North Korea remains dangerous and is continuing to develop both missile and nuclear weapons along with other asymmetric warfare means, such as special operations forces, submarines and cyber warfare capabilities.

The 38 North report said the potential threat of a North Korean submarine-launched nuclear missile should not be ignored or exaggerated.

It will likely take North Korea years to build a missile firing submarine…..more here

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