North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground, a test site and satellite and missile launches on the west coast, asking for its expansion and modernization . This was reported by KCNA , the country’s public news agency, according to which Kim “learned and assessed the current situation and announced the task of modernizing and expanding it so that various rockets can be launched to carry multi-purpose satellites, including a military one from reconnaissance “.

Kim “has also established the task of building some structures,” added the note from the KCNA. To allow the launch of ” large carrier rockets“, the leader also assigned tasks for the construction of the “launch area and facilities for the general and test assembly of the rocket and satellite”. These tasks also include “the creation of extra facilities for the injection and supply of fuel and the modernization of parts of the launch control structure and important technical stations”. Also, Kim, who did the field inspection wearing a black leather aviator jacket and dark sunglasses, provided instructions on “site capacity expansion issues”, including the best solutions for transporting carriers and protecting the environment “around the launch site”.

Observers see what Pyongyang claims to be a space development program as part of efforts to improve its ICBM capabilities. The Sohae site has been used in the past to put a satellite into orbit and to test various missile technologies, including static engines and space launch vehicles which, according to experts in Seoul and Washington, require technologies similar to those used for intercontinental ballistic missiles. South Korea and the United States concluded that development tests of the North Korean “reconnaissance satellite” on February 27 and Saturday were intended to test a new ICBM system.

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