Musudan-ri
The Musudan-ri launch facility increasingly mesmerized American security planning during the 1990s, with the various North Korean missiles tested from this site constituting the primary threat driving American theater and national missile defense programs. It is fittingly paradoxical that tens of billions of dollars should have been spent, and a range of national policies reoriented, on account of this distressing modest and underwhelming missile test facility. Commercial satellite imagery revealed the vaunted Musudan-ri test site as a facility barely worthy of note, consisting of the most minimal imaginable test infrastructure.
It is quite evident that this facility was not intended to support, and in many respects is incapable of supporting, the extensive test program that would be needed to fully develop a reliable missile system. In the United States, typically at least twenty test flights are required in the development of a large intercontinental ballistic missile, while smaller missiles are typically tested a larger number of times before being declared operational. The most noteworthy features of the Nodong facility are those that are entirely absent: the transportation links, paved roads, propellant storage, and staff housing that would be needed to support an extensive test program.
The North Korean missile program has always been distinguished by the disparity between the extremely modest and protracted North Korean test activities and the vast scale of the American response to this program. The modest ambitions of the North Korean test program are clearly revealed by the scale and nature of the Nodong test facility, which is surely the antithesis of Cape Canaveral. The Nodong facility betrays no indication of permanent occupancy, but rather gives every evidence of consisting of a temporary encampment to which launch crews might from time to time repair to test their handiwork. There is a complete absence of any manner of industrial support or other test facilities, and the bare bones test infrastructure is connected by no more than a spidery network of unpaved trails.
The Musudan-ri launch complex is located at some remove from major transporation nodes such as the port at Kimchaek or the highway airstrip south of Kilchli. There are no railway connections, nor even paved roads connecting the launch complex with the outside world. While this profound isolation may be only a modest barrier to a test program consisting of a single launch every few years, it is evidently inconsistent with the transportation requirements posed by a serious missile test programs with launches every few months, such as are conducted by America, Russia or China. Although the dirt and gravel roads that connect the facilities at the test site may suffice for tests at intervals of years, a serious test program would generate frequent vehicular traffic that would neccessitate paved roads, since dirt and gravel roads would quickly collapse into a sea of muddy ruts and wallows. Infrequent testing can be supported by trucking in precisely that quantity of propellant needed for the test at hand, but missile test facilities normally include separate liquid propellant storage areas sufficient to support a number of tests. While infrequent launch campaigns may be treated as campground outtings, extensive test programs require the sustained presence of hundreds of personnel, and permanent housing nearby to support this sustained presence.
North Korean ballistic missiles are test fired from a facility on North Korea's eastern coast not far from the town of Nodong, and about 10 km from the town of Taepodong. Initial construction of this missile base in Musudan-Ri, Hwadae County, North Hamgyong Province, was reportedly completed in 1988. Since that time, a total of two missile tests have been conducted from this facility. A prototype of the Nodong-1 missile was detected on a launch pad in May 1990. And the single test flight of this missile was conducted in May 1993. And in August 1998 the longer-range Taepodong-1 missile was launched in what was claimed to be an attempt to orbit a small satellite.
During 1999 preparations were detected for the launch of the much larger Taepodong-2 missile. Since May 1999, US reconnaissance satellites monitored developments apparently related to another missile launch. Construction of a new launch pad was nearly complete as of late July 1999. The new pad is evidently for launching the Taepo Dong-2, which has a longer range than the Taepo Dong-1 (with a range of more than 1,500 kilometers) was launched in August 1998. Compared to the previous pad (with a height of about 22 meters), the new pad is 1.5 times taller, standing about 33 meters. As of early August 1999 it appeared that the Taepo Dong-2 vehicle was already complete and is stored near the launch pad. However, it had not been transported over to the launch pad. It is said that it would take two days to set the missile on the launch pad and then to load liquid fuel from a tanker. Therefore, preparations for a launch could be confirmed in advance by US reconnaissance satellites. By year's end these activities were abandoned with no launch resulting.
According to some media reports, North Korea has conducted three or four static tests of Taepo-dong missile engines at Musudan Base in North Hamgyong Province between December 1999 and January 2000.
The test facility is roughly triangular, consisting of a single launch pad, a range control facility located 850 meters to the Northwest of the launch pad, and a Missile Assembly Building [MAB] located about 500 meters directly due West of the launch pad. While the MAB is oriented due North, the remainder of the complex is roughly oriented 35° West of North [with incidental variations of a few degrees off this axis]. These three major elements of the test facility are connected by a network of unpaved roads and trails, some of which are evidently peculiar to the test facility, others of which may be associated with local agricultural activitiy.
According to Im Young-sun, a defector from North Korea, for security reasons all inhabitants residing in the area within a radius of 80 Km of this base were reportedly ordered to move out. This claim is evidently untrue, since a number of small agricultural settlements are located in close proximity to the test facility. Comparing the 1999 IKONOS imagery with the 1971 CORONA imagery, it is clear that there has been a significant expansion in the number of dwellings and associated structures in these settlements. Indeed, the missile test facilities are interspersed with active agricultural areas, and there is no evident security perimeter sepearating the missile test facilities from the surrounding agricultural communities.
It is equally evident that the various built-up areas surrounding the missile test facility have no functional association with this facility. There is a complete absence of residential structures that might be associated with missile test staff, as well as a complete absence of larger structures that might provide "industrial" or other operational support. While the casual use of proximate agricultural dwellings or other structures by missile test staff or operations cannot be excluded, there are no identifiable functionally related modifications in the surrounding communities indicative of such use.
An explosion occurred in November 2002 in the North Korean test site, sources in Seoul said on 21 April 2003. According to military officials, a U.S. spy satellite detected the explosion in Hwadae-gun, North Hamgyeong Province at the time. Debris from the explosion was scattered in the area, and the accident is likely to lead to significant damage in the North's development program for long-range missiles, they said. “We can neither confirm nor deny the incident,” ROK Defense Ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. Hwang Young-soo said. Japanese media reported in February 2003 that North Korea was preparing to test the Taepodong II. ROK officials denied it at the time, saying a launch would be detected weeks in advance.
On 06 May 2004 the JoongAng newspaper in South Korea reported that North Korea was preparing to test engines for the TD-2 ballistic missile. It was reported that the North had restored facilities for missile engine testing that had been destroyed by an explosion in December 2002. A 30-meter (33-foot) launching pad was restored in late 2003 at the Musudan missile complex in North Hamgyong province.
Taep’o-dong-2 Launch Facility Infrastructure Year 2000
This illustration shows what the Taep’o-dong-2 launch site looked like in the year 2000 after the rebuild from the Taep’o-dong-1 limited program. New construction on this site would continue for several years. The site also houses the original Scud-B test launch site as well as the new taller gantry umbilical tower and bunker block house for the launch crew. This launch site only has a few unpaved dirt, gravel access roads with no strategic protection surrounding it. Off site there is a horizontal assembly ready building as well as a range control observation site and the static test firing infrastructure.
| Taep'o-dong 2 Launch Facility |
Launch site as of 2000 |
Taep’o-dong-2 Launch Facility Infrastructure Year 2005
This illustration shows what the Taep’o-dong-2 launch site looked like in the year 2005 after considerable detailed additions to its infrastructure. Add to the launch site is a new UDMH propellant farm as well as numerous camera sites. Additional flame bucket concrete slabs and vehicle parking areas have been added and a near pad bunker. The introduction of the UDMH propellant farm is a major indicator of the design changes expected in the final design of the Taep’o-dong-2C/3 satellite launch vehicle. The soft nature of the launch site certainly indicates that it is not intended as a strategic facility for strategic ballistic missile operations. Off site there is a horizontal assembly ready building as well as a range control observation site and the engine stage static test firing infrastructure.
This Present Taep’o-dong-2 launch pad with its two meter inside diameter launch pad has been utilized for one static test firing of its first stage. This launch pad indicates that the base diameter of the Taep’o-dong launch vehicle is on the order of 2.2 meters in diameter. Subsequently static test firings for the Taep’o-dong-2 took place on the nearby regional rocket engine and now launch vehicle stage static test firing facility infrastructure. In recent years that static test firing test stand has had a full launch vehicle stage static test tower built above the rocket engine test cell. That static test tower design resembles the old Atlas static test towers seen at Edwards Air Force Base static test firing center. Several test firings have taken place there in recent years with at least one failure noted but the facility was quickly repaired and put back in service with follow up tests. In general this static test facility continues to grow with infrastructure being added since the year 2000.
| Taep'o-dong 2 Launch Facility |
Launch site as of 2005 |
The Evolution of the Taep’o-dong-1 Umbilical Gantry Tower Design
The significant change in the design of the Taep’o-dong-1 gantry to the design of the present Taep’o-dong-2 gantry umbilical tower reflects a very significant rebuild of the facility feature structures. Most significant is the realization that the Gantry for Taep’o-dong-2 is far taller than is needed for the existing launch vehicle design. It portends potential growth of future satellite launch vehicles beyond the Taep’o-dong-2. This design change to the tower took place with in a year after the Taep’o-dong-1 launch utilizing the same launch facility. It certainly indicated the then expected pacing of the Taep’o-dong-2 class launch vehicle launch expectations which were far sooner than later. This Present Taep’o-dong-2 launch pad with its two meter inside diameter launch pad has been utilized for one static test firing of its first stage. This gantry umbilical tower design resembles the equivalent Chinese launch vehicle gantry umbilical tower design approach.
Subsequently static test firings for the Taep’o-dong-2 took place on the nearby regional rocket engine and now launch vehicle stage static test firing facility infrastructure.| Taep'o-dong 2 Launch Facility |
Evolution of Taep'o-dong launch pad gentry |
