Just days after the collapse of President Trump and Kim Jong Un’s second summit in Vietnam, new satellite images have revealed that North Korea is ‘rapidly rebuilding’ a long-range missile launch site.
The Sohae Launch Facility, which the country uses to launch satellites into orbit and other technologies to aid its intercontinental ballistic missile (ICMB) program, had previously been partly dismantled after the two leader’s first meeting last summer.
An engine test site had been taken down, along with a rocket launchpad and a rail-mounted building, which would help transport vehicles to the launchpad.
However two days after the stalemate in Hanoi, Satellite images captured on March 2 show operations at the once-dormant Sohae sight have resumed full-throttle – with its facilities once again under construction.
Two cranes and a series of apparent trailers have been pictured at the site, adding to the suggestion a construction work force are currently operating at the facility.
The news broke just hours after Kim returned to North Korea on Tuesday, and may signal the end of the dictator’s nuclear detente.
Experts believe this may be a sign of retribution from Kim, after Trump denied his request to lift any of the US’ sanctions currently imparted on North Korea.
Trump responded today he would be “very disappointed” if the reports are accurate.
“I would be very disappointed if that were happening,” the president told reporters in the Oval Office, adding that “it’s a very early report.” “I would be very, very disappointed in Chairman Kim. I don’t think I will be, but we’ll see what happens. We’ll take a look. It will ultimately get solved.”
However, in a private meeting at South Korea’s National Assembly on Tuesday, officials from it’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) hinted that North Korea may actually have been secretly re-building the Sohae site before the summit in Vietnam.
‘Based on commercial satellite imagery, efforts to rebuild these structures started sometime between February 16 and March 2, 2019,’ a 38 North report said.
Two cranes have been pictured at the site – also known as Tongchang-ri – where new walls and a new roof has been added to the launch pad.
Efforts are also being made to to rebuild the rail-mounted building and engine test sight were new roofing has been installed and other construction materials can be seen stacked nearby.
Possible trailers have also been cited in the satellite imagery, adding to the suggestion a construction work force are likely operating at the facility.
‘This renewed activity, taken just two days after the inconclusive Hanoi Summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, may indicate North Korean plans to demonstrate resolve in the face of U.S. rejection of North Korea’s demands at the summit to lift five U.N. Security Council sanctions enacted in 2016-2017,’ an analyst from Beyond Parallel told NBC.
Beyond Parallel believes the activity currently being observed at Tongchang-ri suggest North Korea is preparing for a test, though no missiles have yet been sighted.
At the NIS briefing on Tuesday director Suh Hoon is also said to have reported that the structures being restored at the launch site include roofs and building doors.
An unnamed lawmaker who was at the meeting quoted Suh as saying that the move could be preparation to restart long-range rocket launches if nuclear diplomacy completely collapses, or could be an attempt to add structures that could be dramatically blown up in a show of denuclearization commitment when U.S. inspectors visit if negotiations with Washington go well.
The communist state hasn’t conducted any nuclear or missile tests since November 2017 – a hiatus President Trump has repeatedly credited to his imposition of hard-line sanctions on North Korea.
On the same day the site was pictured, Trump told reporters talks with Kim had been ‘very productive’ and the pair had made ‘great historic progress’.
‘But sometimes you have to walk away,’ he continued. ‘Because every once in a while, you have to walk, because the deal wasn’t a deal that was acceptable to me.’
He reassured reporters that one thing the pair had agreed on was no nuclear testing, insisting ‘no missiles going up, no rockets going up’.