A Washington-based think tank on Monday said it has identified 13 of the estimated 20 undeclared missile operating bases in North Korea, while noting the somewhat-limited capabilities of the sites.
“Missile operating bases are not launch facilities,” Joseph Bermudez wrote in a report published by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “While missiles could be launched from within them in an emergency, Korean People’s Army (KPA) operational procedures call for missile launchers to disperse from the bases to pre-surveyed or semi-prepared launch sites for operations.”
{mosads}“North Korea’s decommissioning of the Sohae satellite launch facility, while gaining much media attention, obscures the military threat to U.S. forces and South Korea from this and other undeclared ballistic missile bases,” Bermudez wrote, adding that the sites appear to be “active and being reasonably well-maintained.”
The sites are in largely remote, mountainous areas in the country.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Trump held a summit that included discussions of denuclearization, but negotiations between the countries seem to have stalled in recent weeks.
A meeting set for last week between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and a top North Korean official was indefinitely postponed.
“They weren’t ready,” U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said Thursday to explain the delay.
Previous to the meeting’s postponement, Pompeo said that he believed the two sides would make “real progress.”
“I’m confident that we’ll advance the ball again this week when I’m in New York City,” he said on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” a few days before the scheduled meeting.
Trump said last month that he expects to meet with Kim for a second summit sometime after the midterm elections.