Analysts: DPRK begins dismantling rocket test site

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The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) appears to have started dismantling key facilities at a rocket-engine test center, a group of experts said Monday, potentially marking a significant step after last month’s summit between its leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump.

According to the respected 38 North group, commercial satellite imagery of the Sohae satellite launching station indicates Pyongyang has begun taking down a processing building and a rocket-engine test stand that had been used to test liquid-fuel engines for ballistic missiles and space launch vehicles.

Sohae, on the northwestern coast of the DPRK, has been used to test rockets, with the aim of putting a satellite into orbit.

Satellite image courtesy Airbus Defense and Space and 38 North obtained July 23, 2018, shows the apparent dismantling of facilities at the Sohae satellite launching station, DPRK. /VCG Photo

But rocket engines are easily repurposed for use in missiles and outside observers say nuclear-armed Pyongyang’s space program is a fig leaf for weapons tests.

Joseph Bermudez, analyst for 38 North called the move an “important first step” for Kim in fulfilling commitments he made to Trump during their June summit in Singapore.

Since Sohae is “believed to have played an important role in the development of technologies for the North’s (DPRK's) intercontinental ballistic missile program, these efforts represent a significant confidence-building measure on the part of North Korea (DPRK),” Bermudez said.

A US defense official, however, told AFP that the Pentagon was not closely tracking activities at Sohae in terms of how it relates to the denuclearization of the DPRK.

Kim Jong Un visits a nursery in Kangwon Province in this undated photo released by DPRK's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on July 24, 2018. /VCG Photo

“It’s not on the radar, so to speak,” the official said.

On Monday, Trump said he was “very happy” with how talks were progressing with the DPRK, after observers and the media highlighted an apparent lack of concrete results since the summit with Kim.

Source(s): AFP