Thread by @CSISKoreaChair

📚 Read the latest report on the “Kumchon-ni Missile Operating Base”
@CSIS (@BeyondCSISKorea/@CSISKoreaChair) By Joseph Bermudez and Victor Cha. This is the first public comprehensive description of the Kumchon-ni missile operating base in #NorthKorea bit.ly/2lYZZ40

Located 1,100 kilometers west of Tokyo and 165 kilometers northeast of Seoul, the Kumchon-ni undeclared ballistic missile operating base houses a battalion- or regiment-sized unit equipped with Hwasong-9 (Scud-ER) medium-range ballistic missiles (MRBM)

This base is one of approximately 20 undeclared ballistic missile operating bases and one that is reported to be tasked with not only strikes against the southern half of Japan, but is also capable of striking all of South Korea

Construction of a ballistic missile operating base in the Kumchon-ni area is believed to have begun sometime during 1991-1993 using specialized engineering troops from KPA Unit No. 583 (the cover designator of the Military Construction Bureau)

During 1999 it was confirmed that the unit based at Kumchon-ni was one of the first to be equipped with the then new 1,000-kilometer-range Hwasong-9 (Scud-ER) medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM)

The earliest high-resolution satellite imagery readily available of the Kumchon-ni area is from April 24, 2000 and indicates that the base was built in a narrow valley east of the town that encompassed the tiny agricultural hamlets of Singol-li, Kamokchong, and Oeryongdae

While there has been very little specific information on the Kumchon-ni ballistic missile operating base or the missile systems deployed in the area, satellite imagery shows gradual development of the base over the years