Yongjo-ri / Yongo-dong

This Yongjo-ri in question is at N41.35 E127.06 [41°19'47"N 127°05'02"E]. It is also known as Yongjo-dong, according to NIMA/NGA. The Yongjo-ri at 39°04'54"N 127°13'31"E is way too far south, and the Yongje-dong at 41°59'49"N 129°58'23"E [which ia also known as Yongjo-ri, according to NIMA/NGA] is way too far east, right on the sea shore. Yongjori is located in Kimhyungjik County, Ryanggang province, about 20 km (12.5 miles) from the Chinese border.

According to US intelligence, North Korea has built at least two new launch facilities for the medium-range Taepo Dong 1 missile. A launch facility for the Taepo Dong 1 at Yongo-dong was reportedly completed in 1999 or 2000. As of late 1998 workers had completed bunkers for propellant fuel and were constructing a launch platform. At that time a similar site was under construction at Chiha-ri, the technical support base for North Korea's Scud missile brigade. US intelligence had identified some construction that may be bunkers for Taepo Dong storage, from which the missiles could be rolled out and elevated into launch position.

According to some reports, North Korea is believed to store mid-range Nodong missiles in tunnels at Yongjori base. The facility consists of a dozen tunnels, half of which store missiles and the other half store fuel and supplies. One North Korean defector claimed that the 12 tunnels at the base could hold 36 missiles. The Nodong missile would be carried on a transporter-erector from the underground facility prior to launch.

In 12 September 2004 there were reports of a huge detonation in North Korea , near a missile base near the border with China. South Korean media reported on the explosion, saying it sent up a mushroom cloud three-and-one-half-kilometers wide on Thursday 09 September 2004, the 56th anniversary of North Korea's founding. The Yonhap news agency cited an unidentified source in Beijing as saying damage was large enough to have been seen from a satellite. The agency quotes a diplomatic source in Seoul as saying the mushroom-shaped cloud was up to four kilometers in diameter. Yonhap said there has been speculation the explosion may have been bigger than the one that largely destroyed a North Korean border town, Ryongchon, on April 22, killing 170 people and injuring an estimated 1,300 others.

The description and location of this facility are quite similiar to the "Chunggang-up" and they may be one and the same.

The short list of suspect sites for the uranium program inmcludes the underground facilities at Yongjori, about 12 miles from the Chinese border in Yanggang province, and in Chagang province, also known as Hagap.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/dprk/yongo_dong.htm