US CSIS “North Korea Prepares to Launch SLBM Test at Sinpo Shipyard”

[아시아경제 나주석 기자] North Korea is discussed as preparing for a test launch of a submarine-launched medium-range ballistic missile (SLBM) at the Sinpo shipyard in South Hamgyeong province.

On the 4th (local time), the US Think Tank Institute for Strategic International Studies (CSIS) presented in a satellite photo of the Sinpo Shipyard that one of several boats moored in the safety area was similar to the tug used to pull of the existing submarine launch test barge. . The CSIS analyzed that it is “not critical”, but “suggests preparation for the test launch of the SLBM’Arctic-type-3 ‘on an underwater test barge.”

North Korea declared in October that it had successfully launched a new SLBM, the North Pole Star-3 test.

CSIS noted: “This move supports speculation that North Korea has advanced in the development of ballistic missiles and SLBMs over the past year, and will demonstrate new capabilities on the 9th of this month or the anniversary of the establishment of the Labor Party on the 10th of May. next month”. did.

Foreign media and others believe that the North Korean movement is drawing attention ahead of the US presidential elections in November this year. This is because if North Korea launches a missile test, doubts about the outcome of nuclear negotiations with North Korea, emphasized by US President Donald Trump, could grow.

Journalist Na Ju-seok [email protected]