Daily US Times: CNN published new satellite imagery which reveals North Korea has recently taken steps to conceal a facility US intelligence agencies believe is being used to store nuclear weapons.
North Korea’s step could add to the growing sense of urgency from critics who argue the president Joes Bidens administration needs to articulate a clear strategy on how it will deal with Kim Jong Un going forward.
The satellite imagery were captured by Maxar on February 11 and analyzed by experts at the Middlebury Institute. Images show North Korea built new structures at its Yongdoktong site over the course of last year — an effort researchers believe is likely intended to obscure a pair of underground tunnel entrances that lead to the facility where nuclear weapons are stored.
Jeffrey Lewis, a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, which specializes in open-source intelligence, said: “Images released by Maxar show the pair of tunnel entrances as late as December 2019 and a new building-like structure visible by February 2021.”
A US intelligence official told that Yongdoktong has been previously identified by United States intelligence as a suspected North Korean nuclear weapons storage facility and is still believed to be used for that purpose.
The satellite images reaffirm what has been widely known among experts and US national security officials for years: North Korea continues to actively develop nuclear weapons at sites around the country while taking further steps toward hiding the stockpile it has already accumulated.
You may read: FBI chief warns violent ‘domestic terrorism’ growing in US
