North Korea has been speeding up construction of a new long-range missile test site in Tongchang-ri, North Pyongan Province. And vehicles and personnel are busily moving around in Kilju, North Hamgyong Province, where the North conducted an underground nuclear test in 2006, showing signs of preparations for another.
"The North has recently been speeding up construction at the test site in Tongchang-ri by deploying more equipment and personnel," a South Korean government official said Wednesday. "We expected the North would complete construction sometime late this year, but it now seems that it could be completed several months earlier."
Construction of the test site began eight years ago and was 80 percent complete last September.
South Korean military authorities believe the North could accelerate completion of the test site and test-launch a long-range ballistic missile from there. North Korea on April 29 threatened to conduct a second nuclear test and test an intercontinental ballistic missile, unless the UN Security Council lifts sanctions against it and "apologizes."
The test site in Tongchang-ri is believed to be capable of launching both ICBMs and satellite rockets, and is much larger and has more up-to-date facilities than the current similar test site in Musudan-ri, North Hamgyong Province.
