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President Trump on Tuesday rejected reports that North Korea would operate more than a dozen "undeclared" missile sites, suggesting that this development would not derail a possible second summit with North Korean leader Kim. Jong-a that administration officials hope to see it go off quickly. year.
Several regional analysts claim that Kim's regime has technically ignored any deal with the United States, as no concrete denuclearization agreement between Washington and Pyongyang has been signed. Trump described the North Korean missile activity as "nothing new". "
The US president said Tuesday that the United States was aware of the existence of the North Sakkanmol missile base and more than a dozen other sites in this reclusive country, and some South Korean officials have also been made aware of the facilities revealed this week by researchers from a Washington think tank. .
Mr. Trump's critics focused on the information – presented in a report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies – as proof that Mr. Kim was playing it on the world stage.
North Korean analysts told the Washington Times Tuesday that the missile sites and activities described in the report could further encourage the administration to increase pressure on the Kim regime in the ongoing talks to of a verifiable stepwise denuclearization pact with Pyongyang.
They also warned that failure to act on CSIS's report could compromise these delicate talks at a critical juncture, five months after their first summit was held by Trump and Kim, as well as from the perspective of A second meeting face to face.
"I would say that the activity is a violation but not a disappointment. It's a violation of many UN resolutions, "said Bruce Klingner, a former CIA executive and senior fellow in Northeast Asia at the Heritage Foundation.
"The continued existence of nuclear weapons and missiles every day is in itself a daily violation," said Klingner.
"Now, this is not necessarily a violation of the summit agreement," he said, referring to the June meeting between Trump and Kim in Singapore. "The summit agreements are so laconic that they have not come up with details that would force North Korea to do all that is required by US resolutions."
After the Singapore summit, Mr Trump said he had made a major step forward with North Korea and that a sustainable denuclearization was looming on the horizon. The White House pledged in Pyongyang to lift its severe economic sanctions and facilitate financial investments in the country once its nuclear weapons program is fully and verifiable.
But there has been little tangible progress in denuclearization since June. Both countries have reached broad agreements in principle, but a detailed long-term agreement has not yet been finalized.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was scheduled to meet with the top North Korean officials in New York last week, but the North Koreans have canceled their candidacy. The administration officials say that they are trying to reprogram the meeting.
Analysts believe that these regular, high-level contacts are essential to accurately define the details of denuclearization and to set a timetable for certain actions.
Mr Trump also wants another meeting with Mr Kim early next year. The president said on Tuesday that reports of undeclared missile sites would not change his approach, although some media have described the news as the sound of negotiations.
The New York Times said in its report on CSIS findings on Monday that North Korea has been engaged in a "big disappointment" with the president and the rest of the world.
"The story of the New York Times regarding the development of missile bases in North Korea is inaccurate," tweeted Trump on Tuesday. "We are very familiar with the sites being discussed, nothing new – and nothing is happening abnormally. Just more fake news. I'll be the first to let you know if things are going wrong!
South Korean presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said Seoul was aware of the facilities and stressed the need for faster and more serious negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang.
Regional analysts were also interested in how the CSIS findings were presented in the press. They argued that the news was circulating to make it appear that Pyongyang was blatantly ignorant of the agreements with the United States and was actively implementing its nuclear and missile programs.
"The United States and North Korea have yet to reach an agreement that prevents Pyongyang from deploying missiles, let alone dismantling them. Washington has not yet proposed the reciprocal measures needed to make such an agreement possible, "said Leon V. Sigal, director of the Northeast Asia Cooperative Security Project at the Social Science Research Council.
"There is more than enough to negotiate the constraints and eliminate the nuclear threats and missiles of North Korea without exaggerating them and to accuse Pyongyang of bad faith prematurely or to question President Trump's wisdom for to have seriously experimented with nuclear diplomacy, "said Sigal. wrote in a comment posted Tuesday by 38 North, a website focused on North Korea.
The CSIS report on the activity of Pyongyang missiles calls Sakkanmol's facility "undeclared operational missile base for short-range ballistic missiles". The think tank research team, led by Joseph S. Bermudez Jr., North Korea's defense and intelligence affairs analyst, said the site was "one of 13 out of 20 bases in the world." exploitation of undeclared North Korean missiles identified by satellite images and reports.
However, the report does not discuss negotiations with the United States or whether these sites represent any kind of violation of the denuclearization agreements.
"It's a simple, over-expressed imaging analysis," Klingner said of CSIS research.
Others say that the pressure is now being exerted on Kim's diet and that a failure to produce concrete results will only prove that the diet has never been serious.
"I am totally convinced that the intelligence sector has informed the president of the activities of the North, but he will continue to test and give Kim Jong-a the opportunity to show sincerity to dismantle his nuclear program", said David Maxwell. A retired US Special Forces colonel and member of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.
"The question remains as to whether Kim Jong-un will allow his negotiators to sit at the table and get to work," said Maxwell. "Not doing it is a real indication of one's intention."
⦁ Gabriella Muñoz contributed to this report.
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