[But it still remained unclear whether North Korea planned to raze the entire Sohae site in the country’s northeast, which has been vital to its space program. In satellite images, other important facilities like fuel bunkers, a main assembly building and the gantry tower remain untouched.]
By
Choe Sang-Hun
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Satellite
imagery appears to show efforts by North Korea to dismantle facilities at its
Sohae Satellite
Launching Station. Credit Agence France- Presse — Getty Images
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SEOUL,
South Korea — North Korea
has started dismantling a missile-engine test site, as President Trump said the
North’s leader, Kim Jong-un, promised he would during their historic summit
meeting in Singapore in June, according to an analysis of satellite imagery of
the location.
The North Koreans have started taking apart
the engine test stand at the Sohae Satellite Launching Station, said Joseph S.
Bermudez Jr., an expert on North Korea’s weapons programs, in a report
published on Monday on the website 38 North. The dismantling work probably
began sometime within the last two weeks, he said.
North Korea has also started dismantling a
rail-mounted building at the Sohae station where workers used to assemble space
launch vehicles before moving them to the launchpad, Mr. Bermudez said.
Mr. Bermudez compared satellite photos of the
Sohae facilities taken on Friday and Sunday to conclude that North Korea had
begun taking “an important first step toward fulfilling a commitment made by
Kim Jong-un.”
But it still remained unclear whether North
Korea planned to raze the entire Sohae site in the country’s northeast, which
has been vital to its space program. In satellite images, other important
facilities like fuel bunkers, a main assembly building and the gantry tower
remain untouched.
But dismantling activities at Sohae could be
an encouraging sign for the Trump administration, which has so far had little
to show for its efforts to denuclearize North Korea.
“Since these facilities are believed to have
played an important role in the development of technologies for the North’s
intercontinental ballistic missile program, these efforts represent a
significant confidence-building measure on the part of North Korea,” Mr.
Bermudez said.
North Korea has used the Sohae facilities to
launch its satellite-carrying rockets. Washington called the satellite program
a front for developing intercontinental ballistic missiles. Mr. Kim visited the
Sohae missile engine test site in March last year when engineers there
successfully tested a new high-thrust engine that was believed to have powered
intercontinental ballistic missiles the North launched months later.
Washington has been fretting over a lack of
North Korean actions toward dismantling its nuclear and missile programs after
the June 12 Singapore meeting, during which Mr. Kim made a general commitment
to “work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”
Since his meeting with Mr. Kim, Mr. Trump has
said that the North Korean nuclear crisis was largely over and that Mr. Kim
planned to “get rid of certain ballistic missile sites and various other
things.”
But North Korea has not moved as quickly as
Mr. Trump wished, and has accused Washington of making a “unilateral,
gangster-like demand for denuclearization” while offering the North little in
return, like improved ties.
In recent days, American news reports have
quoted administration officials as saying Mr. Trump has privately expressed
frustration with the progress of denuclearization efforts. But on Monday, he
dismissed the reports, tweeting that he was “very happy” with the progress with
North Korea, noting that the country had not conducted any nuclear or missile
tests since late last year.
North Korea officially says it no longer
needs nuclear or missile tests because it has completed building its
nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles and begun mass-producing
them. Some Western officials and analysts still doubt that the country has
mastered the technologies needed for launching a reliable long-range missile to
a target across an ocean.
North Korea has yet to explain what it meant
by “complete denuclearization” — for instance, whether it would allow intrusive
inspections by outside monitors to verify its actions.
Many analysts say North Korea will not have
started denuclearizing until it begins dismantling its nuclear weapons. North
Korea has not started disposing of its fissile materials or nuclear facilities,
such as a nuclear reactor and centrifuges, that have been used to produce the
weapons. Nor has it announced whether and when it will dismantle missiles that
it says can deliver nuclear warheads.
