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U.S. The spy agencies are seeing signs that North Korea is building new missiles at a factory that has produced the country's first intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States, officials familiar with the country said. Intelligence
. In recent weeks, work is under way on at least one and perhaps two liquid fuel ICBMs in a large Sanumdong research center on the outskirts of Pyongyang, officials said. anonymity.
The results are the latest to show the ongoing activity in North Korea's nuclear and missile facilities at a time when the country's leaders are engaged in arms negotiations with the states. -United. The new information does not suggest an extension of North Korea's capabilities, but shows that work on advanced weapons continues several weeks after President Trump declared that Pyongyang was no longer a nuclear threat.
Reports on the construction of new missiles come after recent revelations about an alleged uranium enrichment plant, called Kangson, that North Korea operates in secret. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo acknowledged during a testimony in the Senate last week that North Korean factories "continue to produce fissile material" used in the manufacture of nuclear weapons . He refused to say whether Pyongyang was building new missiles.
[Pompeo pushes back against North Korea’s ‘gangster-like’ critique]
At a summit with Trump in June, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un accepted a vaguely worded promise to "work toward" the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. But since then, North Korea has made few concrete gestures indicating its intention to disarm.
Instead, senior North Korean officials discussed their intent to deceive Washington on the number of nuclear warheads and missiles that they own. number of facilities, and put off international inspectors, according to information collected by US agencies. Their strategy is to assert that they have completely denuclearized by declaring and eliminating 20 warheads while retaining dozens of others.
The Sanumdong plant produced two ICBMs in North Korea, including the mighty Hwasong-15, the first with a proven range could allow it to hit the east coast of the United States. The newly obtained evidence indicates that work is underway on at least one Hwasong-15 at the Sanumdong plant, according to images collected by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency in recent weeks.
"We see them working, as before Authorities said the exception is the satellite launch station of Sohae on the west coast of North Korea, where workers can be seen dismantling a test bench, honoring a promise made to Trump at the top. 19659010] A May 28 satellite image of a building that, according to US analysts, is a secret uranium enrichment facility near the capital of North Korea. (Planet / James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies)
Many independent analysts and experts, however, view this dismantling as largely symbolic, since Korea North has successfully launched ICBMs using the liquid fuel type. engines tested in Sohae. In addition, the test bench could easily be rebuilt in a few months.
Supporting intelligence findings, independent missile experts reported this week the observation activity consistent with the missile construction at the Sanumdong factory. The daily movement of supply trucks and other vehicles, captured by commercial satellite photos, shows that the installation of missiles "is not dead, by any one Imagination effort, "said Jeffrey Lewis, director of the nonproliferation program in East Asia. Center for Non-Proliferation Studies. The non-profit group Monterey, California, analyzed commercial photos obtained from the Planet satellite imaging company.
"It 's active.We see shipping containers and vehicles coming and going," said Mr Lewis about Sanumdong' s factory. is an installation where they build ICBMs and space launchers. "
Curiously, an image, taken on July 7, shows a bright red covered trailer in a loading area. those used by North Korea in the past to transport ICBMs It is not known how the trailer was used at the time of the photograph.
The Lewis Group also published images of a large industrial facility that some US intelligence analysts consider the Kangson uranium enrichment plant.The images, first reported by the online publication The Diplomat, show a building field of football surrounded by a high wall, in the northern district c Orean Chollima-guyok, southwest of the capital. The complex has a single guarded entrance and features residential towers apparently used by the workers.
Historical satellite photos show that the facility was fully completed in 2003. US intelligence agencies believe that it has been operational for at least a decade. . If this is the case, the enriched uranium stock of North Korea could be considerably larger than is generally believed. In recent months, US intelligence agencies have increased their estimates of the size of the North Korean nuclear arsenal, taking into account enriched uranium from at least one site. secret enrichment.
Several US officials and private analysts have said that the continuation of activities in the North Korean armed complex is not surprising. promise at the summit to stop work on the dozens of nuclear installations and missiles scattered throughout the country.
North Koreans "have never agreed to abandon their nuclear program," said Ken Gause, a North Korean expert at the Center for Naval. Analysis. And it's stupid to expect them to do it at the beginning of the talks, he said.
"The survival of the regime and the perpetuation of the reign of the Kim family" are Kim's guiding principles. "The nuclear program provides them with a deterrent in their minds against regime change by the US Abandoning nuclear capability will violate the two fundamental centers of gravity of the North Korean regime."
Pompeo, at Last week's Senate hearing sought to assure lawmakers that disarmament negotiations with North Korea remained on track. dismantle the country's nuclear arsenal was just beginning. He dismissed suggestions that the administration had been deceived by Kim. But some independent analysts believe that the Trump administration has misconstrued Kim's intentions, interpreting his commitment to eventual denuclearization as a promise to immediately return the country's nuclear arsenal and dismantle its weapons. factories
"We have this back in. North Korea is not negotiating to give up its nuclear weapons," said Lewis. "They are negotiating for the recognition of their nuclear weapons.They are willing to endure certain limits, like no nuclear test and no ICBM test.What they offer is: They keep the bomb, but they stop it." speak. "
