Dismantling of N Korea nuclear site ‘well under way’: US monitor
SEOUL
Satellite photos indicate North Korea has begun dismantling its nuclear test site ahead of a historic summit between leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump, a U.S. monitor said on May 15.
In a move welcomed by Washington and Seoul, North Korea said at the weekend it will “completely” destroy the Punggye-ri test site, in a ceremony scheduled between May 23-25 in front of invited foreign media.
But no observers from international atomic monitoring agencies have been invited, raising concerns over the openness of the process.
Punggye-ri, in the northeast of the country, has been the site of all six of the North’s nuclear tests, the latest and by far the most powerful in September last year, which Pyongyang said was an H-bomb.
North Korea pledged to close the testing ground after Kim last month declared the country’s nuclear force complete and said it had no further need for the complex.
The respected 38 North website said on May 15 that satellite images dated May 7 showed “the first definitive evidence that dismantlement of the test site was already well under way.”
Several key operational buildings as well as smaller sheds had been razed and rails connecting the tunnels to their waste piles were removed, the monitoring group said.
