N.Korea courts disaster with missile tests from international airport
By Josh Smith
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea's decision to use the international airport near its capital city as a site for test-firing large missiles is "absolutely bonkers" and may be a way for leader Kim Jong Un to keep a close eye on his most prized weapons, analysts said.
Debris fell in or near Pyongyang after a failed test-fire from the airport on Wednesday, Seoul-based NK News reported, citing unnamed witnesses and a photograph of the test showing a red-tinted ball of smoke at the end of a zig-zagging rocket launch trail in the sky above the city.
There was no immediate confirmation of damage or casualties.
The launch underscored the danger behind North Korea's decision to use the airport as a major site for test firing large missiles. The airport is in Sunan about 17 km (10 miles) northwest of the North Korean capital.
"The idea of placing a dedicated facility to support developmental missile testing at North Korea’s major international airport is absolutely bonkers," Jeffrey Lewis, a missile researcher at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS), said in a report on Sunday.
"This is a very strange airport," he added. "And it’s been getting progressively stranger all the time."
Since Aug 2017, North Korea has conducted an increasing number of major tests from the Sunan airport, including a pair of launches on Feb. 27 and March 5 that U.S. officials believe are developmental tests for the Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile.
With the construction of what analysts believe is a ballistic missile support facility, the airport could take on a major role as North Korea prepares to potentially conduct its first full-scale ICBM test since 2017.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic ended international travel in and out of North Korea, the airport was hardly busy, with a handful of flights operating to cities in China and Russia.
But North Korea appears to be the only country to have conducted missile tests from its primary international airport, and could be planning to use the site to develop technology specifically related to its ICBMs, Lewis said.
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