Ordinary-looking golf course holds deadly secret as satellite images reveal truth

Just 20 miles from Pyongyang, North Korea appears to be concealing a menacing secret at a site that was once home to Kim Jong-un's Winter Palace. The compound has been transformed; the previous structures razed and replaced by puzzling facilities that include golf greens.

However, perceptive analysts from the Middlesbury Institute's James Martin Centre for Nonproliferation Studies suggest these seemingly innocuous flat zones are not for leisure but could actually conceal launch pads for ballistic missiles.

The presence of unusual buildings within this 'golf course', notably one towering approximately 118ft high, reinforces the suspicion that it could accommodate a missile poised for launch.

Sam Lair, part of the research team, remarked to Radio Free Asia: "While this facility could be used for shorter range systems like the Hwasong-11/KN-23/ KN-24 series of missiles, the height of the high-bay building suggests it is also built to allow longer-range systems to operate from it."

Corroborating these assertions, the Telegraph reported that some of the freshly constructed roads in the vicinity have the width needed for vehicles transporting the formidable Hwasong-19 ICBM.

Alarmingly, this activity comes as North Korea showcased its might in November by testing the Hwasong-19, even as it faces global censure for its military support to Russia in its ongoing conflict with Ukraine.

North Korea reportedly launched a missile that soared higher than any previous launch, with South Korean and Japanese militaries confirming the event and Reuters noting that the ICBM plunged into the sea between Japan and Russia, reports the Daily Record.

Dubbed "the world's strongest strategic missile" by state news agency KCNA, the Hwasong-19 flew 622.12 miles for 85 minutes and 56 seconds, reaching an altitude of 4,776.8 miles. This missile, like others from North Korea, is believed to have the capability to reach nearly any part of the US.

Kim Jong-un said at the launch: "The new-type ICBM proved before the world that the hegemonic position we have secured in the development and manufacture of nuclear delivery means of the same kind is absolutely irreversible."

Additionally, in February, it was disclosed that North Korea had constructed a destroyer warship at Chongjin Shipyard on its east coast, estimated to be about 383 feet long and 52 feet wide.

Al Jazeera also reported that North Korea conducted several missile tests during South Korean and US military exercises this month. These launches mark the fifth such event this year, with the missiles ultimately landing in the sea off North Korea's west coast.