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Thread: North Korea Begins Dismantling Key Facilities at the Sohae Satellite Launching Station

  1. #1

    North Korea Begins Dismantling Key Facilities at the Sohae Satellite Launching Station


    North Korea Begins Dismantling Key Facilities at the Sohae Satellite Launching Station
    By: 38 North
    July 23, 2018
    Satellite Imagery, WMD
    https://www.38north.org/2018/07/sohae072318/

    A 38 North exclusive with analysis by Joseph S. Bermudez Jr.

    In an important first step towards fulfilling a commitment made by Kim Jong Un at the June 12 Singapore Summit, new commercial satellite imagery of the Sohae Satellite Launching Station (North Korea's main satellite launch facility since 2012) indicates that the North has begun dismantling key facilities. Most notably, these include the rail-mounted processing building—where space launch vehicles are assembled before moving them to the launch pad—and the nearby rocket engine test stand used to develop liquid-fuel engines for ballistic missiles and space launch vehicles. Since these facilities are believed to have played an important role in the development of technologies for the North's intercontinental ballistic missile program, these efforts represent a significant confidence building measure on the part of North Korea.

    Dismantlement at the Launch Pad

    Commercial satellite imagery of the launch pad from July 20 shows that the rail-mounted processing/transfer structure has been moved to the middle of the pad, exposing the underground rail transfer point—one of the few times it has been seen in this location. The roof and supporting structure have been partially removed and numerous vehicles are present—including a large construction crane. An image from two days later shows the continued presence of the crane and vehicles. Considerable progress has been made in dismantling the rail-mounted processing/transfer structure. One corner has been completely dismantled and the parts can be seen lying on the ground. In both images the two fuel/oxidizer bunkers, main processing building and gantry tower remain untouched.

    Figure 1. By July 20, dismantlement had begun of the rail-mounted transfer structure on the Sohae launch pad....





    ....Work at the Vertical Engine Test Stand

    Imagery of the vertical engine test stand from July 20 shows the presence of a crane and a number of vehicles. The rail-mounted environmental shelter—which hadn't been moved since December 2017—has been razed and removed, the older fuel/oxidizer bunkers are in the process of being razed, and portions of the test stand's upper steel framework have been dismantled and its paneling removed.

    Two days later fewer vehicles are present and the test stand superstructure has been completely dismantled, leaving only the base, which is also in the process of being removed. No additional progress is noted on the demolition of the older fuel/oxidizer bunkers. In both images, the two newer fuel/oxidizer bunkers and vehicle garage remain untouched, as does the concrete foundation of the test stand. Given the state of activity, work is likely to have begun sometime within the past two weeks.

    Figure 5. Environmental shelter removed and other dismantlement activities underway at the engine test stand by July 20.....






    This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity (futility) of their mind, having the understanding darkened...
    (Ephesians 4:17-18)

    Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly...
    (Psalm 1)

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  3. #2

    Satellite Images: N. Korea Takes New Steps to Fulfill Promises Kim Made Trump
    By Ryan Pickrell Published on July 23, 2018
    https://stream.org/satellite-images-...im-made-trump/

    Satellite images suggest that North Korea has started taking important steps toward fulfilling a major commitment North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made to President Donald Trump in Singapore.

    The North has started dismantling key facilities at its primary satellite launch vehicle and engine testing site — the Sohae Satellite Launch Station, North Korea watchdog 38 North revealed Monday. The North is apparently dismantling the rail-mounted processing building where satellite launch vehicles are assembled and the nearby rocket engine test stand where the country tests liquid-fueled engines for rockets and ballistic missiles....



    ....While it was not included in the agreement signed in Singapore, the president has repeatedly insisted that Kim offered to destroy a major missile development site.

    “Chairman Kim has told me that North Korea is already destroying a major missile engine testing site, that is not in your signed document, we agreed to that after the agreement was signed,” Trump said at a post-summit press conference, “That’s a big thing, the missiles that they were testing, the site is going to be destroyed very soon.”

    It was later revealed that the site in question is the Sohae Satellite Launch Station.





    ...While critics have downplayed the achievements of the Singapore summit, which was decidedly short on substance, it is hard to deny that the forfeiture of the Sohae facility is a meaningful concession....

    That is an active site
    and would be a concession,” Jeffrey Lewis, the director of the the East Asia Nonproliferation Program for the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, tweeted in June.

    “It would be a concession,” Ankit Panda, the senior editor at The Diplomat and a foreign policy expert, tweeted that same month, noting that the Sohae Satellite Launch Station is where the North appears to have tested the engine configuration seen on the Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile and the Hwasong-14 intercontinental ballistic missile, both of which were tested for the first time last year.

    The closure of the Sohae facility would noticeably limit North Korea’s research and development capabilities for space launch and ballistic missile technology.....







    This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity (futility) of their mind, having the understanding darkened...
    (Ephesians 4:17-18)

    Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly...
    (Psalm 1)

  4. #3
    Super Moderator Quest's Avatar
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    I recall a couple of months ago 38 North reported on some infrastructure activity in N. Korea and reporters locked on claiming N. Korea was restarting their nuclear activities, despite the fact that 38 North stated the infrastructure activity was not that....now it seems the media has no interest in reporting this...

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