Satellite Images Show North Korea Expanding Missile Facility - Reports

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - North Korea is completing the works on expanding its plant producing solid-fuel ballistic missiles, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing satellite images.

According to the media, the satellite images of the facility near the North Korean city of Hamhung, analyzed by the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, revealed that the plant infrastructure was being expanded. The facility is tailored to make solid-fuel ballistic missiles with a destruction range able to strike US bases in Asia and re-entry vehicles for warheads which can be used for long-range missiles fit to reach the US mainland, the media claimed.

READ MORE: CIA Claims North Korea Boosted Nuclear Production at Secret Sites – Reports

According to the Middlebury researchers, the works on the external section of the plant were timed with the Singaporean summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump. Also, the images revealed that there are two more facilities near the Hamhung plant which make missiles. A road was build to access one of them, while demolition works near the other suggest the possibility of further expanding the facility, the media concluded, citing the experts.

Since the beginning of the year, Kim repeatedly said that Pyongyang was ready to denuke. The commitment was confirmed at his April's summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and at June's meeting with Trump, who said that the sanctions against North Korea may be lifted only in case of its full and irreversible denuclearization.