North Korea appears to be building new liquid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missiles at a factory that produced the country’s first missiles capable of reaching the United States, US intelligence officials say.
US spy agencies have been seeing signs of the construction at a large research facility in Sanumdong, on the outskirts of Pyongyang, the Washington Post reported on Monday.
The officials say evidence, including satellite photos taken recently, suggests that construction is underway on one or two ICBMs.
North Korea appears to be building new liquid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missiles, US intelligence officials say, just weeks after Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un’s historic summit
The findings are the latest to suggest ongoing activity in North Korea’s nuclear and missile facilities despite arms talks with the United States and a recent summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week that North Korea was continuing to produce fuel for nuclear bombs despite its pledge to denuclearize.
But he insisted the Trump administration was still making progress in its talks with Pyongyang.
The revelations come just weeks after Trump said North Korea was no long a ‘nuclear threat’.
‘Everybody can now feel much safer than the day I took office. There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea,’ Trump said in a Twitter post after his historic summit with Kim in Singapore last month.
The revelations come just weeks after Trump said North Korea was no long a ‘nuclear threat’ following his summit with Kim Jong-un
North Korea appears to have started dismantling key facilities at a rocket-engine test center, a group of experts said, potentially marking a significant step after last month’s summit between Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump
Satellite images appear to show the apparent dismantling of facilities at the Sohae satellite launching station, North Korea
Kim committed in a broad summit statement to work toward denuclearization, but Pyongyang has offered no details as to how it might go about that.
Just last week, satellite images emerged that appeared to show North Korea dismantling a key Sohae satellite launching station.
Sohae has been the main site for North Korea’s satellite launches since 2012.
It is believed to have played a large role in developing the country’s intercontinental ballistic missile program, according to 38North, which released the satellite images.
The new images, which were reportedly taken on July 20 and July 22, appear to show that the rail-mounted environmental shelter at the site has been dismantled and moved.
Space launch vehicles were assembled at the shelter – which hadn’t been moved since December 2017 – before they are moved to the launchpad, according to 38North analyst Joseph Bermudez Jr.
The image also appears to show that the test stand superstructure has been completely dismantled and that the base is being removed.
North Korea appears to have started dismantling key facilities at a rocket-engine test center, a group of experts said, potentially marking a significant step after last month’s summit between Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump