South Korean intelligence officials have reportedly seen signs of new activity at North Korean nuclear sites that the country previously pledged to dismantle.
Yonhap News Agency reported Tuesday that workers could be seen replacing a roof and installing a new door at the Tongchang-ri nuclear launch site, which North Korean officials promised last year to dismantle following an initial summit between President Trump and Kim Jong Un, according to Reuters.
{mosads}It’s not clear whether the new activity was detected before or after Trump’s second summit with Kim, which ended last week without a new agreement between the two leaders for more concessions by either side.
Initial efforts to dismantle the nuclear site began briefly last year, but were halted within a month, according to Reuters. Kim subsequently promised during a summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in to continue deconstruction of the facility.
In November, however, North Korean officials indicated that progress on dismantling the Tongchang-ri facility and others could be reversed if U.S. sanctions on the country’s economy were not lifted, which Trump refused to do at last week’s summit.
“If the U.S. keeps behaving arrogantly without showing any change in its stand, while failing to properly understand our repeated demand, the DPRK may add one thing to the state policy for directing all efforts to the economic construction adopted in April and as a result, the word ‘pyongjin’ may appear again,” the country’s foreign ministry said last year.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reportedly said Monday at a news briefing that the Trump administration hopes to send a delegation to North Korea in the coming months, while adding that they had made “no commitment yet” to do so.