Report Says North Korea Has Completed Launch Site Upgrades

With the Asian Games soon to be over is this a sign that the North Koreans plan to begin another provocation cycle in the coming months based on a rocket launch at this upgraded launch facility?:

New satellite imagery suggests North Korea has completed the upgrade of a launch site in its northwest that will allow it to launch much bigger rockets than the long-range projectile it fired from the base two years ago.

In a report featuring satellite photos of North Korea’s Sohae launch site, about 50 miles northwest of Pyongyang, 38 North, the website of the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, said construction appeared to have ended after a yearlong revamp.

“Should a decision be made soon to do so in Pyongyang—and we have no evidence that one has—a rocket could be launched by the end of 2014,” the report said.

North Korea in December 2012 launched a long-range rocket called Unha-3 from the site that put a satellite into space. Other countries, including the U.S. and its Asian allies, viewed the launch as a test of long-range missile technology.  [Wall Street Journal]

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