By Jung Da-min
 |
| Joseph S. Bermudez Jr. Courtesy of CSIS Korea Chair |
North Korea's missile bases may look rudimentary but they are being "well-maintained" and therefore pose a serious threat,
a U.S. expert told The Korea Times.
"The physical structure of the base has little to do with the capability of the missile units that are housed there," said Joseph S. Bermudez Jr., a satellite image specialist at the Center for Strategic International Security (CSIS) Korea Chair, a Washington-based think tank.
"They could take a very modern missile and put it on an old base and the missile is still very modern and a significant threat."
His comments came after a CSIS report released Monday caused a political storm.
Bermudez said the North's short-range (SRBM) and mid-range ballistic missiles (MRBM) pose as great a threat as inter-continental ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads, a point that fails to gain enough attention in the political arena in Seoul and Washington. He said most of the bases he revealed in his report house missiles with conventional warheads capable of striking the upper two-thirds of South Korea.
"Cheong Wa Dae confirmed what we said (in the report) by saying the Sakkanmol base is for SRBMs, though not for ICBMs or IRBMs," he said, regarding the base in North Hwanghae province, 85 kilometers north of the demilitarized zone (DMZ) and 135km northwest of Seoul, which the CSIS report highlighted.
He said the research team concluded that the Sakkanmol base could handle Scud or Rodong missiles by measuring the size of the underground facility's entrance. The Scud is an SRBM that can travel about 1,000 kilometers. The Rodong is an MRBM that can reach up to about 3,000 kilometers.
"We have to be careful whenever we look at the North Korean military, no matter what it is," Bermudez said about his report that triggered a political firestorm on both sides of the Pacific.
The U.S. and South Korean governments rejected claims that the sites have not been raised in ongoing talks with North Korea, saying the allies have recognized their existence and have continued to keep a close watch on them.
 |
| An overview of the Sakkanmol Missile Operating Base, March 29, 2018. CSIS/Beyond Parallel, via DigitalGlobe |
As for political debates over talks between the U.S. and North Korea and the two Koreas, Bermudez said he did not intend to make a political issue by using the word "undeclared" when referring to the bases.
"The challenge is that everybody is looking at this report in the context of the current talks between South Korea and the North, and the United States and North Korea, where the word 'declared' means something very specific," he said. "But we used the word 'undeclared' in a general sense and it is important to read it very carefully, without thinking of the negotiations right now."
The CSIS report claiming to have located 13 of an estimated 20 operating missile bases in North Korea came at a critical juncture, as Washington and Pyongyang have shown few signs of resolving their months-long denuclearization talks after the historic June 12 summit in Singapore between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
