North starts to remove N- site, sat photos show
Destruction ceremony before media between May 23- 25
Seoul, May 15: Satellite photos indicate North Korea has begun dismantling its nuclear test site ahead of a historic summit between leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump, a US monitor said on Tuesday.
In a move welcomed by Washington and Seoul, North Korea said at the weekend it will “completely” destroy the Punggye- ri test site, in a ceremony scheduled between May 23- 25 in front of invited foreign media.
But no observers from international atomic monitoring agencies have been invited, raising concerns over the openness of the process. Punggye- ri, in the northeast of the country, has been the site of all six of the North’s nuclear tests, the latest and by far the most powerful in September last year, which Pyongyang said was an Hbomb. North Korea pledged to close the testing ground after Kim in April declared the country’s nuclear force complete and said it had no further need for the complex.
The respected 38 North website said on Tuesday that satellite images dated May 7 showed “the first definitive proof that dismantlement of the test site was already well under way”.
Several key operational buildings as well as smaller sheds had been razed and rails connecting the tunnels to their waste piles were removed, the monitoring group said. Excavation of a new tunnel was also halted since late March, it added.
Images showed preparatory work for the destruction ceremony had also begun, including a newly positioned foundation among waste piles believed to have been built for the invited journalists.
“It is conceivably for a future camera position to record closure of the West Portal,” the group said.
However no tunnel entrances appear to have been permanently closed and some main buildings are intact, it added, saying the destruction was likely to be carried out in front of foreign media. — AFP