North Korea has secret ICBM base near China border: report

North Korea has built a secret military base near its border with China which may house Pyongyang’s newest long-range ballistic missiles, new research says.

The “undeclared” Sinpung-dong Missile Operating Base lies about 27 kilometers (17 miles) from the Chinese frontier, the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said in a report published yesterday.

The facility in North Pyongan Province likely houses six to nine nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and their launchers, the study says.

It says the weapons “pose a potential nuclear threat to East Asia and the continental United States.”

North Korea has ramped up its nuclear weapons program since a failed summit with the United States in 2019, and leader Kim Jong Un recently called for the “rapid expansion” of the diplomatically isolated nation’s nuclear capability.