N Korea rebuilds part of missile site

WASHINGTON- Reuters

North Korea has restored part of a rocket test site it began to dismantle after pledging to do so in a first summit with U.S. President Donald Trump last year, while Trump's national security advisor warned that new sanctions could be introduced if Pyongyang did not scrap its nuclear weapons program.

South Korea's Yonhap News Agency and two U.S. think tanks reported on March 5 that work was underway at the Sohae Satellite Launching Station at Tongchang-ri, even as Trump met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at a second summit in Hanoi last week.

That summit broke down over differences on how far North Korea was willing to limit its nuclear program and the degree of U.S. willingness to ease sanctions.

Trump's national security adviser, John Bolton, told Fox Business Network on March 5 that following the Hanoi summit, Washington would see whether Pyongyang was committed to giving up its "nuclear weapons program and everything associated with it."

"If they're not willing to do it, then I think President Trump has been very clear, they're not going to get relief from the crushing economic sanctions that have been imposed on them and we'll look at ramping those sanctions up in fact," said Bolton, a hardliner who has advocated a tough approach to North Korea in the past.

Separately, two U.S. senators sought to dial up pressure on North Korea by reintroducing a bill on March 5 to impose sanctions on any bank that does business with its government.