- North Korea analysts view the restoration of the ballistic missile site as a negotiation ploy to get the upper hand in future nuclear talks
SEOUL: North Korea has begun rebuilding a key missile launch site that had been inactive for almost a year under a nuclear deal with the US, South Korea’s spy agency chief said on Wednesday.
The North was also operating uranium enrichment facilities at the Yongbyon nuclear complex while some signs of vehicles movement were detected at a missile assembly site near the North Korean capital of Pyongyang.
The findings came a week after talks between the leaders of North Korea and the US collapsed following a disagreement over sanctions, fanning speculation that Pyongyang could resume its development of a nuclear arsenal.
At the summit in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi on Feb. 28, the North Korean delegation offered to shut down the Yongbyon complex in return for the relief of key economic sanctions, but the US side rejected the proposal, calling for wider denuclearization steps, including the abolishment of uranium enrichment plans.
“We found that the North’s uranium enrichment facilities have been in normal operation, even before the Hanoi summit,” Suh Hoon, director of the National Intelligence Service, was quoted as telling lawmakers during a closed-door briefing to the National Assembly Tuesday.
The spy chief also briefed lawmakers that the movement of vehicles appeared to transport supplies had been spotted at the Saneum-dong missile research center on the outskirt of Pyongyang. The center is known to be a place for assembling intercontinental ballistic missiles, including the Hwasong-15 with an estimated hitting range of 13,000km enough to reach Washington D.C.
Suh also confirmed a report by North Korea monitoring websites in the US that the North had begun restoring sections of the Tongchang-ri site, in the country’s northwest before the Hanoi summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Lawmakers at the briefing, who asked not to be named, said the spy chief appeared to give North Korea the benefit of the doubt, suggesting Pyongyang may have wanted to rebuild the site in order to make its dismantling more dramatic if the Hanoi talks produced an agreement.
Alternatively, the communist state may have planned to resume rocket testing in preparation for the summit breaking down.
Rebuilding work at the missile site was captured by US satellite images.
“Based on commercial satellite imagery, efforts to rebuild these structures started some time between Feb. 16 and March 2, 2019,” 38 North, a website specializing in North Korea analysis, said in a report about the Tongchang-ri facilities.
“On the launchpad, the rail-mounted transfer building is being reassembled,” the report reads. “At the engine test stand, it appears that the engine support structure is being reassembled.”
Two support cranes can be seen, and walls have been erected and new roofs installed on the fuel and oxidizer buildings, the website said. Covers that typically conceal the site’s launch tower have been opened to reveal the launch pad.
Another monitoring website in the US, the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Beyond Parallel project, also said there has been “deliberate and purposeful activity” at the launch site.
Dismantling sections of the Tongchang-ri site was among denuclearization steps taken by North Korea following the Singapore summit last June, when Trump and Kim met for the first time.
When the North Korean leader and his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in held talks last September, the young dictator offered to destroy the missile facilities in the presence of US experts if Washington took “corresponding measures,” including the easing of sanctions and security guarantees.
North Korea analysts view the restoration of the ballistic missile site as a negotiation ploy to get the upper hand in future nuclear talks.
“It seems like a chess move to ratchet up pressure on the Trump administration,” Kim Dae-young, an analyst at the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy, told Arab News. “If the North fails to get what it wants at the denuclearization talks, it may launch what it claims is a satellite rocket at the Tongchang-ri site.”
North Korea carried out satellite launches at the site in recent years, resulting in UN sanctions. Many experts suspect the launches were disguised tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles because satellite rockets and ballistic missiles share similar technologies.
In 2017, the North test-fired three ballistic missiles at the site and claimed the devices could hit parts of the US mainland.
During a news conference following the failure of Hanoi summit, Trump said the North Korean leader had promised not to resume nuclear or missile tests.
On Monday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he hoped a US delegation would be sent to North Korea in the coming weeks.
However, Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, warned of increasing pressure on North Korea.
“I think President Trump has been very clear — they’re not going to get relief from the crushing economic sanctions imposed on them. In fact, we’ll look at ramping up those sanctions,” he said.