Trump scoffs at report N. Korea has undeclared nuclear sites

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump played down concern about a new report that identified 13 undeclared North Korean missile bases, saying that the U.S. was fully aware of them and suggesting that negotiations with the country remain on track.

“We fully know about the sites being discussed, nothing new – and nothing happening out of the normal,” Trump tweeted on Tuesday. “I will be the first to let you know if things go bad!”

The 13 sites are among an estimated 20 bases, small and dispersed across the country, that are believed to have underground facilities containing mobile launchers that can be quickly dispersed to other locations, according to the report from Beyond Parallel, a group at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

Although not designed as launch sites, the bases could be used to launch shortrange as well as intercontinental ballistic missiles, according to the report.

The report’s findings, which were first disclosed by The New York Times, appeared to undermine the Trump administration’s claims that its outreach to On June 12 in Singapore, President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un shake hands after signing an agreement at the Capella Hotel.

Pyongyang is making progress in getting Kim Jong Un’s regime to give up its nuclear weapons program. But experts argue that the country hasn’t made any commitment to dismantle such missile bases yet, so the fact that it would maintain them doesn’t in itself represent a breakdown in talks with the U.S.

Trump’s directed his tweet at the New York Times story. That report said that while U.S. intelligence knew about the bases, their existence suggested “a great deception” because the country was improving some sites while offering to dismantle another major launching site. “Just more Fake News,” he said. The existence of the bases – which presumably would have to be declared and then dismantled under the U.S. goal of North Korean “denuclearization” – suggests that Pyongyang’s previous efforts to dismantle known missile launch sites or nuclear facilities had little impact on its nuclear program.