Posted on 05/04/2017 12:37:54 PM PDT by drewh
orth Korea is building artificial islands in the Yellow Sea and topping them with what appear to be military installations, satellite images reveal.
The development suggests that North Korea has taken a cue from China, which has been stoking regional tensions by building and militarizing several artificial islands in the South China Sea in recent years. The images show that North Korea has been working for at least five years on the islands near Sohae, about 70 miles northwest of Pyongyang, the capital. Sohae is known as a testing site for intercontinental ballistic missile technology.
As late as 2012, three of the islands, which are scattered around a small peninsula jutting into the Yellow Sea, were rocky, tree-studded specks; two were patches of sand. In Google Earth images from December 2016, all appear to contain features consistent with military installations, such as wide roads and paved, rectangular lots. All are in North Koreas waters, close to the countrys shoreline.
"We cant make definitive statements as to what these islands are being used for, said Ryan Barenklau, chief executive of Strategic Sentinel, a Washington-based intelligence firm that has analyzed the images and wrote about them in the Diplomat, an online magazine.
Military use is likely, he continued. Roads on the islands feature wide turns, indicating that they could be used for transporter erector launchers: massive, missile-bearing trucks. Light patches on the rectangular lots could be heat-resistant cement, a sign that they may have been designed as launch pads.
And they have observation areas, for someone like [the countrys leader] Kim Jong Un to observe a missile launch, he continued. Every time we see VIP buildings, that tells us theres most likely a military application, because Kim Jong Un likes to view the operations of whatever theyre building.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Well once he’s out this is going to have to go slowly because the jolt of him gone alone is going to confuse many of the people......it’s going to be interesting that’s for sure.
The Chinese could use them as slaves in their factories and they would still be better off.
Very true....
Does anyone have any photos of the NEW JERSYs bridge after the ISLAND sinking credit was added.
If someone walked up to your door and said that a new security system would prevent 3.75% of burglaries in your home, would you fork over $5,000 dollars?
Vooch, I get your point. I’m not sure it’s a valid point with so many leaks in the system.
Not trying to be tough on you. If it covered 100% of the threat, or even 98%, it might be worth it.
Does anyone have any photos of the NEW JERSYs bridge after the ISLAND sinking credit was added?
“...Not trying to be tough on you. If it covered 100% of the threat, or even 98%, it might be worth it....”
Illuminating
so the taxpayers are paying for something that sorta maybe works and it’s so useless we can’t even foist it on the South Koreans
LOL
you gotta love those beltway bandits
North Korea has thousands of short range missiles aimed at South Korea.
Those can’t hit the U.S.
We’re talking ICBMs vs small missiles.
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