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North Korea Operates Hidden Long-Range Missile Base Near Chinese Border, Report Reveals
North Korea has secretly operated a long-range missile base near the Chinese border housing nuclear-capable ICBMs, highlighting its expanding and increasingly survivable nuclear threat, a CSIS report revealed.
SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA - 2025/06/20: The North Korean national flag flutters in the wind on a flagpole. (Photo by Maksim Konstantinov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
North Korea has secretly built and operated a sprawling long-range missile base near the Chinese border that houses some of Kim Jong Un’s most advanced strategic weapons, according to a report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
The base, located in Sinpung, North Pyongan Province, about 17 miles from the border with China, likely hosts a brigade-sized unit equipped with six to nine nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and their mobile launchers, the think tank said Wednesday. “These missiles pose a potential nuclear threat to East Asia and the continental United States,” the report warned.
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Satellite imagery cited in the report indicated that in times of crisis or war, the launchers and missiles would leave the base, rendezvous with warhead storage and transport units, and conduct launches from dispersed, pre-surveyed sites.
Construction on the facility began around 2004, and by 2014 most of the complex was completed and operational. The report noted that the base has continued to undergo development and expansion since then.
South Korea’s Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a Bloomberg News request for comment on the findings.
The revelation underscores the regime’s escalating nuclear threat and demonstrates that North Korea’s arsenal is larger, more dispersed, and more survivable than many previous outside assessments suggested. It also signals Pyongyang’s shift toward rapid-launch capabilities that complicate U.S. preemptive strike options.
Its proximity to China’s border provides an additional shield against potential attacks, raising the geopolitical stakes for both Washington and Beijing.
The disclosure comes just days after Kim Jong Un called for a “rapid expansion” of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, coinciding with joint U.S.-South Korea military drills that Pyongyang has denounced as preparations for war.
Despite three face-to-face meetings between Kim and then-U.S. President Donald Trump during his first term, North Korea has pressed ahead with its nuclear ambitions and refused to return to negotiations with Washington.
Kim has also strengthened ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, sending support for Moscow’s war in Ukraine. Earlier this week, Kim declared that the only way to defend North Korea’s security is to “make enemies afraid” and that the country’s nuclear strength will be “expressed through practical actions.”
