North Korea dismantles rocket test site
News & Trends •
38 north analyst joseph bermudez called the move an important first step for kim in fulfilling a promise that trump said the north korean leader made during their june summit in singapore1 north korea has started dismantling some facilities at its main satellite launch station seen as the testing ground for its intercontinental ballistic missiles according to expert analysis of recent satellite images1 after the summit trump had declared the north korean nuclear threat was effectively over and us media reports suggest he is privately furious at the lack of any subsequent progress on the denuclearisation issue1 his public statements however remain upbeat and the 38 north analysis came as the president pronounced himself very happy with the way talks were progressing with pyongyang1 the website said imagery indicated the north had begun taking down a processing building and a rocket-engine test stand that had been used to test liquid-fuel engines at its sohae satellite launching station1 sohae on the northwest coast of north korea is ostensibly a facility designed for putting satellites into orbit but rocket engines are easily repurposed for use in missiles and the international community has labelled pyongyangs space programme a fig leaf for weapons tests1 if confirmed the analysis by respected us-based website 38 north could signal a step forward after last months landmark summit between kim jong un and us president donald trump although some experts questioned the significance of the gesture1 since sohae is believed to have played an important role in the development of technologies for the norths intercontinental ballistic missile program these efforts represent a significant confidence-building measure on the part of north korea bermudez said1 trump said in singapore that kim had committed to destroying a major missile engine test site without specifying the site1 sohae has been the norths main rocket launch site since 2012 and south korea whose president brokered the landmark summit between trump and kim called it a step towards denuclearisation1 its a better sign than doing nothing nam gwan-pyo deputy director of the presidential national security office told reporters1 i believe they are moving step by step towards denuclearisation nam added1 but some experts cautioned against reading too much into the work described in the 38 north analysis1