U.S. Think Tank Claims:

North Korea Preparing for Sub-Launched Missile Test

Date: 05 September 2020 - 22:13

News ID: ۸۲۴۵۵

WASHINGTON (Dispatches) -- Satellite imagery of a North Korean shipyard on Friday shows activity suggestive of preparations for a test of a medium-range submarine-launched ballistic missile, a U.S. think tank reported.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies said the images it published on its website of North Korea’s Sinpo shipyard showed several vessels within a secure boat basin, one of which resembled vessels previously used to tow a submersible test stand barge out to sea.
It said the activity was "suggestive, but not conclusive, of preparations for an upcoming test of a Pukguksong-3 submarine launched ballistic missile from the submersible test stand barge.”
North Korea said last October it had successfully test-fired a Pukguksong-3, a new submarine-launched ballistic amissile (SLBM), from the sea as part of efforts to contain external threats and bolster self-defense.
The United States censured the launch at the time and called on North Korea to "refrain from provocations” and to remain committed to nuclear negotiations.
North Korea has suspended long-range missile and nuclear tests since 2017. U.S. President Donald Trump has held up the absence of intercontinental ballistic missile and nuclear tests by North Korea since 2017 as a success from his diplomacy and has sought to play down numerous shorter-range tests in the period.
Trump has met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un three times, but diplomacy has gradually halted owing to Washington’s refusal to relieve any of the harsh sanctions in exchange for the goodwill measures by Pyongyang.
Early this year, Kim called off two years of the moratorium on nuclear and missile tests and said Pyongyang would soon develop a "new strategic weapon.”
The U.S. has imposed rounds of unilateral sanctions against the North over its nuclear and missile programs since 2006.
South Korea’s military said the Pukguksong-3 tested last year flew 450 km (280 miles) and reached an altitude of 910 km (565 miles) and would have had a range of about 1,300 km (800 miles) on a standard trajectory.
News of the activity at Sinpo comes amid signs that North Korea may be preparing for a major military parade in October, which some analysts believe could be used to show off new missiles as the country has done at such events in the past.