The supreme leader of North Korea has tried to hide the true purpose of the military site – but global analysts say sand traps with launch pads pose a slight giveaway
North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un has built a new missile base – and disguised it as a golf course.
Satellite photos show fairways, bunkers and putting greens near a recently demolished Kim family mansion in southern Pyongyang. But experts say it conceals secret launch pads and missiles. Analysts have concluded the supreme leader – whose father famously claimed to have scored 11 holes in one in his first ever golf round – wants to use the site to target missiles at his enemies.
Top analyst Sam Lair said: “It seems the base has been disguised as a golf course by pouring concrete launch pads in fields and then covering them with turf or grass, manicured to have the appearance of a golf course. Moreover, sand traps have been added throughout the field with the launch pads. The large sections of concrete are one indication that it is a missile launch site.”
He says there are a number of other signs that give away the true purpose of the site. These include a 36-metre tall building nearby, large enough to test long-range missile launchers and wide-radius turns added to the roads for large transporters, reports the Sun.
North Korea’s secrecy and paranoia has long posed a problem to western powers. The despot’s behaviour is unpredictable and the closed society a mystery to many outsiders. It is not the first time golf has featured in the country’s politics. Kim’s father, Kim Jong il, boasted of his prowess with the irons back in 1994 when he claimed a world record low score, even though he had never played before. The infamous round happened at Pyongyang Golf Course – just a 30-minute drive from the capital – another well-maintained course with a clubhouse, shop for equipment and snacks.
And this week the diminutive leader stopped tourists from visiting a city in North Korea just three weeks after opening it since the pandemic. The latest analysis of his weapons capabilities comes from the Open Source Team at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies of the Middlebury Institute. The golf course base is thought to have been finished in November and is ready for testing.
Kim has long held ambitions to make North Korea a military powerhouse and develop nuclear weapons. South Korea’s spy agency has warned that the North Korean leader has recently sent additional troops to Russia – preparing to send them into the war in Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has already confirmed North Korean troops were fighting alongside Russian forces. North Korea has been supplying a vast amount of conventional weapons to Russia, and last year it sent about 10,000-12,000 troops to Russia as well, according to US, South Korean and Ukrainian intelligence officials. They have suffered enormous losses, according to sources.
