NK Secret Base

[Anchor Lead]

KBS has learned that North Korea is secretly building an underground military base in a coastal area of Hwanghaenam-do Province. Analysts say that it could be a hovercraft or air-cushion vehicle base for a sudden attack on South Korea's five islands in the Yellow Sea. Here’s more.

[Pkg]

This is Sogang-ri in Ongjin-gun County, Hwanghaenam-do Province, North Korea. Inside a small peninsula, construction is under way to dig through a hill near the sea and build tunnels. The three tunnels each have two passages. Right in front of the tunnels, construction is under way to build a wharf and a road linking the base to an inland region. Military experts analyzed that the North is building a military base to hide air-cushion vehicles deep inside the tunnels.

[Soundbite] Yang Wook(Senior Researcher, Korea Defense Forum) : "Geographically, it is a natural defense base. It is located inside the bay and protected by mountains."

Several military officials said that the military is keeping a close eye on the construction, which began last year. But they added that no detailed purposes of the base have been identified. There is a growing possibility that the new facility is an air-cushion vehicle base for attacking South Korea's five islands in the Yellow Sea, given that a similar base located north of the South's Baengnyeongdo Island has already been detected by the South Korean military.