N.Korea 'Building Underground Missile Base'

North Korea is believed to have built a large tunnel in Ryanggang Province near the border with China that appears to be an underground missile base.

The U.S. and South Korea are monitoring the facility, which experts believe could be part of a cluster of North Korean missile bases being built underground to avoid aerial attacks.

According to a government source on Wednesday, the 10 m-wide tunnel was spotted just 6 km from the Chinese border by reconnaissance satellites. It has only one entrance. Military authorities here believe it is a missile storage facility.

A photo from Google Earth in September last year showed two cylindrical objects measuring around 10 m in length at the mouth of the tunnel that appear to be missile-launching tubes.

North Korea's Pukguksong-2 solid-fuel missile is fired from 12-m cylindrical launchers.

The UN Security Council in a report in September last year confirmed that Pukguksong-2 missiles stationed near the North's border with China are capable of striking U.S. military bases in Japan. The bases would play a crucial role in bolstering U.S. troop deployments to South Korea in the event of war.

The UNSC report did not pinpoint the exact location of the missiles but pointed out that Rodong missiles were also deployed there.

The facility would be difficult for the U.S. and South Korea to attack because it is so close to the Chinese border.

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