N. Korea ‘expands’ missile bases
Construction went on despite Trump summit
New satellite images have revealed that North Korea has significantly expanded a key long-range missile base located in a remote mountainous area, despite continuing talks with the U.S. over the country’s nuclear disarmament.
The images, obtained by CNN, offer evidence that the Yeongjeo-dong missile base and a nearby, previously unreported, site remain active and have been continually upgraded, highlighting the gulf between Pyongyang and Washington over denuclearization.
Yeongjeo-dong has long been known to U.S. intelligence agencies, but researchers at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, Calif., told CNN the construction at a new facility at Hoejungri, 11 kilometres away, had not previously been publicly identified.
“Construction on the previously unidentified site has continued even after the Singapore summit,” said the Institute’s Jeffrey Lewis, referring to talks in June between Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump. “Whatever Kim says about his desire for denuclearization, North Korea continues to produce and deploy nuclear armed missiles.”
The bases are believed to serve as shelters for mobile missile launchers and would be able to store the country’s newest long-range missiles, including those capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
The North officially suspended its nuclear and missile tests before the June summit, and missile production and deployment does not technically violate any agreement between Pyongyang and the U.S. and South Korea.
However, ongoing activity fuels U.S. criticism that North Korea is dragging its heels over denuclearization.
John Bolton, the U.S. national security adviser, told The Wall Street Journal this week that Trump believes he should hold a second summit with Kim early next year as the North Koreans “have not lived up to the commitments” of the summit.
The Singapore summit produced a vaguely worded agreement for North Korea to “work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”
Meanwhile, North Korea’s foreign minister arrived in China on Thursday for talks amid stalled efforts to persuade his government to dismantle its nuclear weapons programs. Ri Yong Ho is to meet Friday with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, according to China’s foreign ministry.
China is North Korea’s most important economic and political partner, but has agreed to United Nations economic sanctions aimed at pressuring Kim to abandon his drive to develop nuclear weapons and the ballistic missiles to deliver them.