North Korea is now developing BALLISTIC SUBMARINES to carry nuclear warheads
Madcap dictator Kim Jong-un has authorised a huge expansion of the country’s main military dockyards in preparation for the construction of a fleet on new submarines.
The move will raise fears that the mentally unstable dictator is attempting to construct an at sea nuclear deterrent to rival Britain’s Trident programme.
The mentally unstable dictator, who is attempting to develop viable nuclear missiles, has upped his rhetoric against the West in recent months and has persistently threatened to start World War Three.
Now analysis of the Sinpo South Shipyard, on the country’s eastern coast, shows that the North Korean navy is clearing a huge harbour and has put up a massive new construction hall.
Experts at 38 North, a program at the US-Korea Institute, have examined satellite imagery which shows the true extent of the secretive country’s ambitious naval plans.
At the moment North Korea has a single small, outdated Gorae-class submarine which is neither large nor technologically advanced enough to launch nuclear missiles.
But the analysts warned: “The status of work inside the hall remains unclear, but when it is finished North Korea will be able
But the analysts warned: “The status of work inside the hall remains unclear, but when it is finished North Korea will be able to build and launch new submarines much larger than the existing Gorae-class, including a new class of ballistic missile submarines.” More here from ExpressUK.
North Korea: U.S. has crossed red line; relations on war footing
PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korea’s top diplomat for U.S. affairs told The Associated Press on Thursday that Washington “crossed the red line” and effectively declared war by putting leader Kim Jong-un on its list of sanctioned individuals, and said a vicious showdown could erupt if the U.S. and South Korea hold annual war games as planned next month.
Han Song Ryol, director-general of the U.S. affairs department at the North’s Foreign Ministry, said in an interview that recent U.S. actions have put the situation on the Korean Peninsula on a war footing.
The United States and South Korea regularly conduct joint military exercises south of the Demilitarized Zone, and Pyongyang typically responds to them with tough talk and threats of retaliation.
Han said North Korea believes the nature of the maneuvers has become openly aggressive because they reportedly now include training designed to prepare troops for the invasion of the North’s capital and “decapitation strikes” aimed at killing its top leadership.
Han says designating Kim himself for sanctions was the final straw. “The Obama administration went so far to have the impudence to challenge the supreme dignity of the DPRK in order to get rid of its unfavorable position during the political and military showdown with the DPRK,” Han said, using the acronym for North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
“The United States has crossed the red-line in our showdown”, he said. “We regard this thrice cursed crime as a declaration of war.” declaration of war.”
Although North Korea had already been heavily sanctioned internationally for its nuclear weapons and long-range missile development programs, Washington’s announcement on July 6 was the first time Kim Jong Un has been personally sanctioned.
Less than a week later, Pyongyang cut off its final official means of communications with Washington — known as the New York channel. Han said Pyongyang has made it clear that everything between the two must now be dealt with under “war law.” More here from the WashingtonTimes.
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WASHINGTON – A US policy institute said it may have located a secret facility used by North Korea in the early stages of building its program to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons, which if confirmed would be critical to the success of any future nuclear deal, according to a report seen by Reuters on Thursday.
The report by the Institute for Science and International Security said there has always been doubt about whether North Korea has disclosed all of its nuclear facilities. Confirming their location would be critical to the success of any future agreement to freeze and dismantle North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, it said.
The site, 27 miles (43 km) from the nuclear complex at Yongbyon, may have played a key role in development of centrifuges that refine uranium hexafluoride gas into low-enriched and highly enriched uranium, the report said.
“It is necessary to identify where North Korea enriches uranium and part of that is understanding where it has done it in the past,” said David Albright, the institute’s president.
What may once have been the early centrifuge research and development facility is believed to have been inside an aircraft parts factory inside a mountain next to Panghyon Air Base. It was located using commercial satellite imagery, the report said.
It was unclear whether the aircraft parts factory was still operational but information from defectors indicates there may be three production-scale centrifuge manufacturing plants operating in the country although their locations have not been confirmed, said Albright.
Tensions have been escalating between North Korea and South Korea, the United States and Japan over Pyongyang’s fourth underground nuclear test in January and a series of missile launches.
North Korea’s nuclear program is based on highly enriched uranium and plutonium separated from spent reactor fuel rods.
The reclusive government, which for more than a decade denied having a gas centrifuge program, in November 2010 revealed the existence of a production-scale gas centrifuge plant at Yongbyon but insisted it had no other such facilities.
In June 2000, a Japanese newspaper quoted Chinese sources as saying a facility was located inside Mount Chonma, the report said. Information recently obtained from “knowledgeable government officials” suggested the undeclared facility was associated with an underground aircraft parts factory, it said.
Working with Allsource Analysis, which interprets satellite imagery, the institute determined it most likely was Panghyon Aircraft Plant, which made parts for Soviet-supplied fighters.
The report quoted an unidentified official as saying the site could have held between 200 and 300 centrifuges. More details here.
