South Korea’s military said Tuesday it has not verified any signs of an imminent test of a long-range missile from North Korea, after a US think tank raised the possibility, citing commercial satellite imagery. 

A blog run by the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University, 38 North, warned Sunday that Pyongyang may fire an intercontinental ballistic missile -- for which the country’s leader Kim Jong-un said preparations were in the “final stage” in his New Year’s address -- from the Kalma site near the eastern coastal city of Wonsan, where it carried out at least four tests of the Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missile last year.

Over the past three months, the communist state has made improvements at the site, including the paving of a small pad and several access roads with gravel, which appeared to be intended to handle missiles heavier than the Musudan, such as an ICBM. The site would be a “logical choice” for an ICBM liftoff, analyst Joseph Bermudez said, also referring to its capability of housing a transporter erector launcher and its convenient location to an airport. 

But Seoul’s Defense Ministry downplayed the view, saying it has been closely monitoring movements around potential launch sites together with the US and adding that further work is needed to verify the report.

“We have yet to confirm that North Korea has installed such a facility at the area,” ministry spokesman Moon Sang-kyun said at a regular news briefing. “But there is the possibility that the facilities cited in the report have been set up in the past, because there were several missile tests there, such as of the Musudan.”

Since Kim’s speech, Seoul and Washington have been keeping watch, as Pyongyang could test the KN-08 and its improvement, the KN-14. 

The North is presumed to also be developing two additional types of ICBM up to 15 meters long, shorter than the 19-20 meters of the KN-08 and 17-18 meters of the KN-14.

The military assessed that the missiles would be launched either from a Dongchang-ri site near its northwestern border with China or from a mobile launcher at the Panghyon airfield in North Pyongan Province, where the North test-fired the Musudan last October. 

On Friday, Pyongyang’s state-run Rodong Sinmun threatened that the country could fire the missile “at any time and place,” apparently aiming the comment at US President Donald Trump, was inaugurated on the same day.

By Yeo Jun-suk (jasonyeo@heraldcorp.com)