Image Credit: Rodong Sinmun
The Diplomat: Exclusive: North Korea Has Continued Ballistic Missile Launcher Production in 2018, Per US Intelligence
Amid ongoing diplomacy with South Korea and the United States, North Korea has continued to produce launchers.
North Korea has continued to produce support equipment and launchers for one of its newer ballistic missiles through the first half of 2018, according to a recent U.S. military intelligence assessment described to The Diplomat by U.S. government officials.
According to a recent assessment released by the U.S. National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC), which analyzes intelligence regarding ballistic missile threats for the U.S. Air Force, North Korea has continued to produce vehicles and support equipment for its Pukguksong-2/KN15 medium-range ballistic missile in 2018.
While production of launch vehicles—known as transporter-erector-launchers, or TELs—and support equipment has continued through the first half of 2018, North Korea has likely not produced additional Pukguksong-2 missiles, the assessment notes. North Korea may have produced as many as ten TELs for the Pukguksong-2.
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WNU editor: This is going to go one of two ways. One of my uncles worked during the Cold War in Leningrad/Saint Petersburg as a director/plant manager for a facility that built Soviet military satellites. When the Soviet Union fell apart and the central government became dysfunctional I asked him during that time on what was going to happen to him and his work force. His answer .... as far as he was concerned, it was business as usual. Three years later the entire facility was knocked down to build a shopping/residential complex. This is what I hope is happening right now in North Korea. That the politics and policies may have changed on the top, but it has yet to work its way down to the bureaucratic and institutional level that their budgets and priorities are about to change. Of course the other explanation is that this is all a North Korean ruse and that President trump is stupid .... an explanation and this has become the narrative of many in the U.S. and Canadian media. I say give it time, we will learn in the next year or two on where this is all heading.
Update: The Japanese beleive that the threat level is decreasing .... Japan stands down on alert level against N. Korean missiles：The Asahi Shimbun (Asahi Shimbun)
More News On North Korea Continuing To Its Expand Its Main Missile Facility
No Apparent Dismantlement Activities at Sohae Engine Test Site as of June 12 -- 38 North
Several signs are pointing to North Korea still working on its nuclear program -- CNBC
North Korea satellite images show missile plant construction, analysts say -- CNN
North Korea Reportedly Expanding Ballistic Missile Production Facility -- NPR
North Korea reportedly expands major missile plant: report -- FOX News
North Korea Expanding Missile-Manufacturing Plant, Report Finds -- Bloomberg
