WASHINGTON, October 2. /TASS/. North Korea has finalized modernization of the main launching site at missile firing range Sohae, and a first test-launch of a new missile may be carried out at the end of the year, the US-Korea Institute of the School of Advanced International Studies at the Johns Hopkins University in Washington D.C. said.
New buildings, a reinforced road and railway lines are seen on satellite images. American specialists believe that this infrastructure will permit North Korean military to test-launch up to 50-meter-long missiles. The United States has serious concerns over North Korean missile program. A 30-meter-long rocket Unha-3 was test-launched from the firing range in December 2012.
Washington is concerned that Pyongyang may develop missiles that can reach American borders.
News agency KCNA has made a warning in North Korean newspapers earlier in the day that deployment of US mobile anti-ballistic missile systems Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) in South Korea would result in an arms race in Northeast Asia. KCNA believes that the US seeks to use South Korea “to fulfil its strategy aimed at attaining domination in the Asia-Pacific and turning the country in a stronghold for total confrontation with other major powers in the future.” KCNA warned that as a result of these US plans “a major armed conflict may break out” in the Asia-Pacific.