Secret North Korea missile base: Sinpung-dong

Satellite image of the area in which the Sinpung-dong missile operating base will be built, September 26, 1984. (CIA, declassified KH-9 Image via CSIS)

By Joseph S. Bermudez Jr., Victor Cha and Jennifer Jun • Aug 25, 2025

Located approximately 27 kilometers from the China-North Korean border, the Sinpung-dong Missile Operating Base is an undeclared ballistic missile operating base in North Pyongan Province. The base is one of North Korea’s approximately 15-20 ballistic missile bases, maintenance, support, missile storage, and warhead storage facilities which North Korea has never declared. This is the first in-depth open-source study confirming the base.

Preliminary analysis suggests that the base likely houses a brigade-sized unit equipped with a total of 6-9 nuclear capable Hwasong-15 or -18 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), or an as yet unknown ICBM, and their transporter-erector-launchers (TEL) or mobile-erector-launchers (MEL). These missiles pose a potential nuclear threat to East Asia and the continental United States.

Current assessments are that during times of crisis or war, these launchers and missiles will exit the base, meet special warhead storage/transportation units, and conduct launch operations from dispersed pre-surveyed sites.