Seoul: North Korea has completed work on a new west coast site capable of launching improved intercontinental ballistic missiles, according to senior South Korean officials quoted by Yonhap news agency.
The Dongchang-ri base has been under construction for several years despite long-running international efforts to shut down the communist state`s missile and nuclear programmes.
"The construction is as good as finished," one South Korean official told Yonhap on condition of anonymity. "The necessary facilities are all there."
Another official said the North has been testing missile parts such as boosters at the site about 200 km northwest of Pyongyang.
"It`s a leap in North Korea`s ballistic missile development," the official was quoted as saying.
South Korea`s then-defence chief said last November the new site could handle a missile larger than the North`s current Taepodong series.
The Dongchang-ri base is bigger than the Musudan-ri site on the east coast where the North launched long-range missiles in 1998, 2006 and April this year.
The April launch brought international condemnation. The North called it an exercise to put a peaceful satellite into orbit but others saw a disguised test of a Taepodong-2 missile theoretically capable of reaching Alaska.
Bureau Report
