North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un has disguised his newest missile launch site as a private golf course, satellite images have revealed.
Pictures show the site of Kim’s former Winter Palace in southern Pyongyang – which was demolished last year – engulfed by a densely-wooded valley.
At first glance, the complex looks like a private golf course, but according to exports, a closer examination reveals proof that the site is being used to hide secret North Korean launch pads and missiles.
Analysis using near-infrared images over the course of construction shows that the golf courses were built with concrete bases in June, and were then covered with a thin layer of soil.
Experts from the Middlesbury Institute’s James Martin Centre for Nonproliferation Studies have said flat areas with concrete bases are ideal launchpads for long-range ballistic missiles.
North Korea‘s secrecy and unpredictability has long posed a problem to the West, while Kim has doubled down on his weapon development.
Earlier today, North Korea warned that an ‘accidental single shot’ by the South could spark a war.
It comes after Seoul accidentally bombed its own villages during a joint exercise with the U.S, injuring some 31 people in Pocheon, close to the border with North Korea.
Kim Jong-Un has disguised his newest missile launch site as a private golf course, according to experts
North Korea ‘s secrecy and unpredictability has long posed a problem to the West
nalysts use near-infrared images to reveal concrete base ideal for launching long-range missiles at site on outskirts of Pyongyang
Such exercises infuriate Kim, with the North Korean leader firing ‘multiple unidentified ballistic missiles’ in response, South Korea’s military said.
Relations between Pyongyang and Seoul have been at one of their lowest points in years, with the North launching a flurry of ballistic missiles last year in violation of UN sanctions.
The two Koreas remain technically at war since their 1950-1953 conflict ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.
The large-scale Freedom Shield exercises are one of the allies’ biggest annual joint exercises.
In its statement on Monday, North Korea’s foreign ministry dubbed the exercises ‘an aggressive and confrontational war rehearsal’.
Last week, Pyongyang slammed the United States for ‘political and military provocations’ over the visit of a US Navy aircraft carrier to the South Korean port of Busan.
On Saturday, Kim Jong Un unveiled a new submarine which experts say is able to carry ten nuclear missiles capable of being launched at the US.
State media released photos showing the dictator touring shipyards it said were being used to build ‘a nuclear-powered strategic guided missile submarine’.
People watch a television screen showing a news broadcast with file footage of a North Korean missile test, at a train station in Seoul on March 10, 2025
North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un observing the launch of a strategic cruise missile during a drill by the Korean People’s Army on February 28
A TV screen shows a report of North Korea’s missiles launch with file image during a news program at the Seoul Railway Statio
It also comes days after Kim revealed a new submarine set to carry ten nuclear missiles capable of being launched at the U.S.
The nuclear-powered weapons system is currently under construction and will pose a major security threat to South Korea and the US.
On Saturday, state media released photos showing what it called ‘a nuclear-powered strategic guided missile submarine’, as it reported leader Kim Jong Un’s visits to major shipyards where warships are built.
A nuclear-powered submarine was among a long wishlist of sophisticated weaponry that Mr Kim vowed to introduce during a major political conference in 2021 to cope with what he called escalating US-led military threats.
Other weapons were solid-fuelled intercontinental ballistic missiles, hypersonic weapons, spy satellites and multi-warhead missiles.
Some 31 people were injured when a South Korean fighter jet accidentally dropped eight bombs on a civilian area during a joint exercise with the US Air Force Thursday
U.S. Army soldiers prepare to cross the Hantan river at a training field in Yeoncheon, South Korea, near the border with North Korea, March 10
North Korea has warned that ‘an accidental single shot’ by the South could spark war. Pictured: Kim Jong Un with North Korean troops
A man watches a television news segment on a recent North Korean missile launch, at a station in Seoul, South Korea, March 10
North Korea could launch the submarine in one or two years to test its capability before its actual deployment
In 2023, North Korea said it had launched what it called its first ‘tactical nuclear attack submarine’, but foreign experts doubted the North’s announcement and speculated it was likely a diesel-powered submarine disclosed in 2019.
Kim described the launch of the submarine as a crucial step in his efforts to build a nuclear-armed navy to counter the United States and its Asian allies.
There has been no confirmation that it has been deployed.
North Korea has conducted a slew of underwater-launched ballistic missile tests since 2016, but all launches were made from the same 2,000-tonne-class submarine which has a single launch tube.
Many experts call it a test platform, rather than an operational submarine in active service.
