North Korea has likely started a major project to upgrade its main spaceport, NK Pro analysis of satellite imagery shows, in accordance with plans revealed by the country’s leader Kim Jong Un during a visit to the site in March.

The Sohae Satellite Launching Ground had been quiet in the months after Kim’s visit, but the start of construction suggests his planned launch of a military satellite into space won’t happen until after expanding the facility’s capacity. 

Planet Labs satellite imagery shows excavation work and blue-roofed structures going up in a village near the launch complex starting in mid-June, possibly as part of a construction worker camp typically built at major DPRK construction projects.

A new road connecting the site over a 328-foot (100-meter) mountain into the highly secure spaceport complex then appeared to be built between July 5 and 12, further suggesting the site may be a construction worker camp and that workers could traverse the new path while working on the project. 

Activity also increased along a short stretch of railroad leading into the Sohae complex at its north entrance between June 8 and July 12, while excavation work as part of construction plans or a separate worker camp appeared to start at the south end inside the complex in mid-June and continued in recent weeks.

Train cars or structures appeared to move on or along the tracks within a period of a few hours on June 8 | Images: Planet Labs PBH, edited by NK Pro 

In March, state media described Kim Jong Un’s plans for “expanding and modernizing” the Sohae facilities in order to launch “multi-purpose satellites, including a military reconnaissance satellite, in the future,” detailing the following upgrades:

• Rebuild and expand facilities related to the “general assembly and interlocking test of rockets and the interlocking test of satellites”
• Build “more fuel-injecting facilities and supplying systems”
• Rebuild and modernize “launch control facilities and major technical posts” 
• “Expand the capacity” of the static engine test stand 
• “Take measures to provide convenient transport of the carrier rockets” to the launch pad
• Change the “ecological surroundings” of the launching ground
• Build a “new open-air place for watching the launch in safety on the ridge opposite the launching ground”

State media has not released a detailed map of where these new facilities will be located, and it is unclear how long the project will take to complete.

Once expected work begins on the launchpad and rocket transfer facilities, observers will likely be able to watch the site for evidence of construction work winding down as a sign that Kim’s launch window is reopening.

North Korea last launched a rocket from Sohae in Feb. 2016 and has not revealed any new rocket or satellite designs since late 2017. 

The National Aerospace Development Administration (NADA) and the Academy of Defence Science reportedly conducted reconnaissance satellite components tests on Feb. 27 and March 5 this year — tests which the U.S. later said involved intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) on highly lofted trajectories. 

Experts have suggested Pyongyang may be using aerospace development goals as a front for conducting more tests and developing dual-use technology related to deploying both multiple satellites or multiple nuclear warheads. 

However, major construction at Sohae suggests Kim is serious about expanding NADA’s activities. 

The apparent start to upgrades at Sohae comes after work resumed in recent months at a long-stalled “space environmental test base” project next to Pyongyang’s Satellite Control Center (SCC) following a visit by Kim Jong Un in March.

Progress appeared ongoing in the latest Planet Labs imagery showing roofing installed on a large multi-story building at the site between June 12 and 25, but the project did not appear finished as of July 10.

This comparison shows progress at the space environmental test base construction site in Pyongyang between June 12 and 25 | Images: Planet Labs PBH, edited by NK Pro

Edited by Arius Derr