A yearslong construction project to upgrade North Korea’s main space launch complex has entered a new stage, according to NK Pro analysis of satellite imagery, after leader Kim Jong Un renewed his call for establishing a spy satellite program.

Planet Labs high-resolution imagery taken on April 1 of the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground shows that a sprawling construction worker camp at the east end of the complex was demolished throughout March, as well as a surrounding village. The camp was established in 2022 at the onset of the ongoing upgrade project.

The camp appears to be in the process of being rebuilt about 1.9 miles (3 km) up the road to the east, NK Pro has found, while construction of new homes likely for villagers displaced by the military project is also underway in the same area.

Temporary worker structures were also removed from the east entrance of a large tunnel under construction at the center of the complex, while some new structures appeared at the west entrance. 

The tunnel is intended to link the launchpad on the east coast of the complex with a rail-serviced rocket assembly building on the other side, which is also unfinished. New underground facilities may also be under construction between the tunnel entrances.

The removal of the camp and homes has cleared out a wide area of land northeast of the tunnel, suggesting some new construction could be planned for the area. 

More structures were removed from a construction administration area between the complex’s old launchpad and rocket engine test stands, but another worker camp established north of the old launchpad in 2022 remained intact as of the April 1 image.

Progress has been slow throughout the Sohae complex in recent years, but a horizontal rocket engine test stand was upgraded late last year and used for a test as recently as last week.

Shelters were built to block views of a parking lot at the new main launchpad late last year. A new pier built at the southeast end of the complex to receive large cargo ships, possibly for launch-related deliveries, was also finished last summer.

Kim Jong Un called for developing “further evolved reconnaissance satellites” at the Ninth Party Congress in February, without elaborating on what he envisions under the new five-year military plan.

He abandoned his goal of successfully putting four military reconnaissance satellites into orbit under his previous five-year plan in 2024 after a series of failed launches. Only one out of four attempts reached orbit.

Edited by Bryan Betts