N. Korea said to dismantle missile site
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea appears to have started dismantling key facilities at its main satellite launch site in a step toward fulfilling a commitment made by leader Kim Jong Un at his summit with President Donald Trump in June.
Trump expressed appreciation to North Korea on Tuesday for apparently beginning to dismantle the facilities even as his top diplomat sounded a note of caution, saying inspectors would have to confirm the development.
“We’re all pursuing the denuclearization of North Korea and a new future of prosperity, security and peace on the Korean Peninsula and all of Asia,” Trump told a VFW convention in Kansas City, Mo. “New images just today show that North Korea has begun the process of dismantling a key missile site and we appreciate that. We had a fantastic meeting with Chairman Kim, and it seems to be going very well.”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, however, expressed a note of caution. He said that while such a step would be in line with the pledges that Kim made to Trump, it would
have to be confirmed by international inspectors.
“It’d be entirely consistent with the commitment that Chairman Kim made to President Trump when the two of them were in Singapore together. We made that commitment orally,” Pompeo said at a news conference in Palo Alto, Calif., with Defense Secretary James Mattis and their Australian counterparts.
“We’ve been pressing for there to be inspectors on the ground when that engine test facility is dismantled, consistent with Chairman Kim’s commitment,” said Pompeo, who attended the Singapore summit and has visited North Korea three times this year.
While Pyongyang could be trying to build trust with Washington as the nations engage in talks to resolve the nuclear standoff, analysts say dismantling a few facilities at the site alone wouldn’t realistically reduce North Korea’s military capability or represent a material step toward denuclearization.
The North Korea-focused 38 North website said commercial satellite images from Friday to Sunday indicate the North began dismantling key facilities at the Sohae launch site. The facilities being razed or disassembled include a rocket engine test stand used to develop liquid-fuel engines for ballistic missiles and space-launch vehicles and a rail-mounted processing building where space launch vehicles were assembled before being moved to the launch pad, according to the report.
“Since these facilities are believed to have played an important role in the development of technologies for the North’s intercontinental ballistic missile program, these efforts represent a significant confidence building measure on the part of North Korea,” analyst Joseph Bermudez wrote in the report.
An official from South Korea’s presidential office said on Tuesday that Seoul also has been detecting dismantlement activities at the Sohae launch site but did not specify what the North was supposedly taking apart.
Other analysts said North Korea is giving up little in dismantling the rocket engine test site when it’s clear the country is satisfied with its current design of long-range weapons and could easily build other similar facilities if needed in the future.
Adam Mount, a senior defense analyst at the Federation of American Scientists, said it’s also troubling that the North has apparently been allowed to duck verification by unilaterally dismantling parts of its nuclear and missile facilities without the presence of international inspectors. In May, North Korea invited foreign journalists to observe the destruction of tunnels at its nuclear testing ground, but it did not invite outside experts capable of certifying what had been destroyed.
“The actions at Sohae are a helpful signal that Pyongyang wants to continue negotiations, but do not in themselves advance nuclear disarmament,” Mount said in an email. “North Korea still has not disclosed or offered to dismantle facilities that produce or store nuclear or missile systems, or the means to transport the missiles. So far, the facilities dismantled have been peripheral to these core functions.”
Lee Choon Geun, a missile expert at South Korea’s Science and Technology Policy Institute, said the North’s supposed move to dismantle the rail-mounted processing building was the more meaningful development as it potentially indicated broader dismantlement activities at the site.
“If North Korea goes further and dismantles the entire Sohae site, that would meaningfully reduce the country’s long-range missile capability by eliminating a facility where it could fire multiple ICBMs in succession,” Lee said. “The North can also fire ICBMs from transporter erector launchers, but their technology with these vehicles isn’t stable.”
However, Mount said the military consequences of a broader dismantlement would be “marginal.” North Korea has invested a great deal of effort in ensuring its missiles can be fired from austere locations and doesn’t require a site like Sohae, he said. Information for this article was contributed by Matthew Lee, Jill Colvin, Susannah George and Kim Tong Hyung of The Associated Press.