Missile-Site Activity: Trump warns N Korea's Kim
President Donald Trump said Wednesday he'd be "very, very disappointed" with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un if reports that work is underway to rebuild a long-range rocket site are confirmed.
Speaking to reporters, Trump said "it's too early to see" if the information about work at the North Korean site is true. Warning he'd be disappointed, he added: "I don't think I will be, but we'll see what happens."
Trump and Kim met last week in Vietnam to negotiate on getting rid of North Korea's nuclear arsenal, but the summit broke up early with no progress.
Researchers say that rebuilding of the facility in question has been underway since the summit and may have started before the Vietnam meeting, reported AFP.
"This facility had been dormant since August 2018, indicating the current activity is deliberate and purposeful," said researchers at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
Researchers said that the activity at Sohae Satellite Launching Station in Tongchang-ri may be intended to "demonstrate resolve in the face of US rejection" of the North's request for an easing of sanctions in return for some dismantlement of nuclear weapons infrastructure.
South Korean media said yesterday new activity has been detected at the North Korean intercontinental ballistic missiles plant at Sanumdong in Pyongyang.
Spy chief Suh Hoon told the lawmakers he viewed the activity as missile-related, the JoongAng Ilbo said. It quoted Suh as saying North Korea continued to run its uranium enrichment facility at the main Yongbyon nuclear complex after the first summit between Trump and Kim Jong Un, in June in Singapore.
The Sanumdong factory produced the Hwasong-15 ICBM, which can fly more than 13,000 km (8,080 miles). After its test flight in late 2017, North Korea declared the completion of its "state nuclear force," before pursuing talks with South Korea and the United States last year.
South Korea's presidential office and defense ministry declined to confirm the reports on Sanumdong, saying they were closely monitoring North Korea's activities together with the United States.
The US State Department said it could not comment on intelligence matters.
White House national security adviser John Bolton said yesterday that Trump was open to additional talks with North Korea over denuclearisation, reported Reuters.
"The president's obviously open to talking again. We'll see when that might be scheduled or how it might work out," Bolton said in an interview with Fox News.
Bolton also said it was too soon to make a determination on the reports of North Korea's missile activities. "We have a lot of ways of getting information," he said. "We're going to study the situation carefully. As the president said, it would be very, very disappointing if they were taking this direction."
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