Study: N. Korea deceptive

WASHINGTON — North Korea is moving ahead with its ballistic missile program at 16 hidden bases that have been identified in new commercial satellite images.

The ballistic missile bases were identified in a study to be published today by the Beyond Parallel program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a major think tank in Washington.

The program, which focuses on the prospects of North-South integration, is led by Victor Cha, a North Korea expert whom President Donald Trump’s administration considered appointing as the ambassador to South Korea last year. His name was pulled when he objected to the White House strategy for dealing with Kim Jong Un, the North Korean leader.

Satellite images suggest that the North has been engaged in a deception: It has offered to dismantle a major launching site — a step it began, then halted — while continuing to make improvements at more than a dozen others that would bolster launches of conventional and nuclear warheads.

A State Department spokesman responded to the findings with a written statement suggesting that the government believed the sites must be dismantled: “President Trump has made clear that should Chairman Kim follow through on his commitments, including complete denuclearization and the elimination of ballistic missile programs, a much brighter future lies ahead for North Korea and its people.”