[Yonhap News Photo]
North Korea is pushing ahead with the development of a ballistic missile submarine and submarine-launched ballistic missiles following a series of questionable tests, 38 North reported.
Camouflage netting, seen first in December, has been suspended again over the submarine deck at North Korea's Sinpo shipyard, the website of a US research institute said.
"The purpose of this netting is to conceal ongoing activity," it said, adding a submersible test stand barge used for previous SLBM tests has been moved from its position back to the main dock.
A towing vessel is now tied up alongside the barge, suggesting work is being undertaken to repair or modify the barge, and a large shipping container is present nearby, 38 North said.
Last December, Pyongyang claimed to have successfully conducted an SLBM "ejection" test, but US and South Korea experts said the earlier test failed. In April, Pyongyang claimed to have conducted a successful SLBM test from a strategic submarine, but military officials said the test probably had failed.
38 North has said that the North's SLBM program represents "an emerging rather than a current threat", although deployment of such operational systems is an expensive, time-consuming endeavor and there is no guarantee of success.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
