An eight-month construction standstill at a North Korean site meant to launch bigger and better long-range rockets may signal Pyongyang is slowing or even stopping development of larger rockets, according to a new analysis of recent satellite imagery. The sight...
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An eight-month construction standstill at a North Korean site meant to launch bigger and better long-range rockets may signal Pyongyang is slowing or even stopping development of larger rockets, according to a new analysis of recent satellite imagery.
The sight of unfinished roads and grass growing from the foundation of a large new rocket assembly building could be welcome news for Washington and others who see Pyongyang's nuclear and missile work as a threat -- though it is unknown if the work stoppage is only temporary.
Another unknown is why North Korea stopped construction on the launch pad, rocket assembly building and launch control center at what was intended to be a major new facility at the Tonghae Satellite Launching Ground on the northeast coast, according to analysis provided to The Associated Press by 38 North, the website for the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
But the analysis of May 26 commercial satellite imagery from DigitalGlobe and Astrium provides some possible scenarios about what's happening.
One theory is that equipment and construction troops sent from the site to help repair widespread rain damage last year may still be at other storiess. Another is that North Korea's leadership has decided that its more modern Sohaerocket launching site on the northwest coast, the one used to launch rockets in April and December 2012, will be sufficient to support large rocket development.
But the most intriguing theory from the analysis is that the work stoppage could reflect a decision in Pyongyang to slow or stop building larger rockets.
"If Pyongyang ultimately abandons facilities to launch large rockets it only began building in 2011, that could have important implications for North Korea's space launch program as well as the development of long-range missiles intended to deliver nuclear weapons," Joel Wit, a former U.S. State Department official and now editor of 38 North, said in an email.
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