With a second U.S.-North Korea nuclear summit looking increasingly likely in February, researchers have discovered a secret ballistic missile base in North Korea – one of as many as 20 undisclosed missile sites in the country, according to the researchers’ new report, NBC News reported.
The Kim regime has never disclosed the existence of the Sino-ri Missile Operating Base to the outside world. Ballistic missiles are the primary delivery mechanism for North Korean nuclear warheads.
The report from Beyond Parallel, a project sponsored by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a defense think tank, was released Monday and comes after an announcement Friday that President Donald Trump “looks forward” to meeting with Chairman Kim Jong-un next month “at a place to be announced at a later date.”
According to Bloomberg/TIME, the second summit could take place in Vietnam. The February summit is likely to take place in Hanoi, the capital, but Danang, site of the 2017 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting, and Ho Chi Minh City in the country’s south have also been discussed as possible venues.
Neither the administration nor the North Koreans offered much else after Friday’s meetings about what they’d agreed to and what would be gained from the planned summit.
Trump reveled in the aftermath of the first summit, when he declared North Korea was no longer a nuclear threat. Still, more than seven months later, North Korea has made no commitments to allow weapons inspections or dismantle its growing arsenal of warheads and intercontinental ballistic missiles.
The announcement about the second summit suggested that the U.S. was softening its refusal to relax sanctions against North Korea because Kim had earlier this month threatened to walk away from talks if Trump didn’t compromise, TIME adds.
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