N. Korea completing missile test site

PYONGYANG, North Korea, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- North Korea may be about two years from completing a secret test site that can launch a long-range ballistic missiles capable of hitting Alaska, analysts say.

Using satellite imagery of the site made in June, Joseph Bermudez, a senior analyst with Jane's Information Group, told CNN the site is the Tongch'ang-dong facility near Pongdong-ni, about 30 miles from the Chinese border.

He said the facility is bigger and more sophisticated than the decades-old Musudan-ni launch pad in the eastern part of the country, the report said.

"This is a national program in their desire to expand both their space launch and ballistic missile launch programs," he said.

Tim Brown, an imagery analyst working with Bermudez, said the new site can help test North Korea's Taepodong-2 ballistic, a 2,500-mile-range missile that is believed capable of striking Alaska, CNN said, adding a 2006 test of the missile failed 40 seconds after launch from the older site.

A U.S. official was quoted as saying the secret new facility has been known to the intelligence community for some time, CNN said.