North Korean production of at least one Hwasong-15 ICBM has been detected by U. S. intelligence agencies.
North Korea is continuing production of intercontinental-range ballistic missiles (ICBMs) at a known missile manufacturing site, U. S. officials with knowledge of the latest classified intelligence of North Korea’s weapons programs confirmed to The Diplomat. The new U. S. military intelligence assessment was first reported on Monday by the Washington Post .
At least one—possibly as many as two—Hwasong-15/KN22 intercontinental-range ballistic missiles are being manufactured at the site known as the Sanum-dong Research Center, outside the North Korean capital of Pyongyang, sources confirmed to The Diplomat .
“Work on the new missile likely began after the summit,” one source told The Diplomat, referring to the June 12 meeting between U. S. President Donald J. Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore.
The Sanum-dong site is associated with North Korea’s ICBM program. The Hwasong-15 is North Korea’s longest-range ballistic missile, capable of carrying a large payload to likely all of the contiguous United States.
The intelligence finding draws a sharp contrast with Trump’s proclamation after his summit meeting with Kim in Singapore that North Korea was “no longer a Nuclear Threat.”
In Singapore, Kim Jong Un committed to work “towards the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula” in a signed joint statement with Trump, but there are signs that North Korea does not interpret that phrase to entail its unilateral disarmament.
