US says there's renewed activity at a North Korean missile factory

Before a meeting between the two Koreas happens, US says their spy satellites detected renewed activity at a North Korean missile factory.

A satellite image shows the Sanumdong missile production site in North Korea on July 29, 2018.
Reuters

A satellite image shows the Sanumdong missile production site in North Korea on July 29, 2018.

Before the two Koreas held a meeting in the demilitarised zone (DMZ), US claimed its spy satellites detected renewed activity at a North Korean missile factory.

But photos and infrared imaging released, only show vehicles moving in and out of a facility at Sanumdong and do not show any missile construction.

The Washington Post reports that senior US intelligence officials are claiming that North Korea are building one or two new liquid-fuelled intercontinental ballistic missiles at the large research facility on the outskirts of Pyongyang.

The White House said it did not comment on intelligence.

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Two Koreas hold talks

North and South Korea's meeting, their second since June, held in the border village of Panmunjom in the demilitarised zone (DMZ), was designed to follow on from an inter-Korean summit in April at which leaders of the two Koreas agreed to defuse tensions and halt "all hostile acts."

Kim Do-gyun, the South's chief negotiator who is in charge of North Korea policy at the defence ministry, told reporters before leaving for the DMZ that he would make efforts to craft "substantive" measures to ease tensions and build trust.

South Korea's defence ministry said last week it plans to reduce guard posts and equipment along the heavily fortified border as an initial step to implement the agreement.

TRT World's Oliver Whitfield-Miocic reports.

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Trump's North Korea policy

US President Donald Trump declared soon after a historic summit in June with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un that North Korea no longer posed a nuclear threat. 

Kim committed in a broad summit statement to work toward denuclearisation, but Pyongyang has offered no details as to how it might go about.

In late June, US officials told US media outlets that intelligence agencies believed North Korea had increased production of fuel for nuclear weapons and that it did not intend to fully give up its nuclear arsenal.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week that North Korea was continuing to produce fuel for nuclear bombs despite its pledge to denuclearise. 

But he insisted the Trump administration was still making progress in its talks with Pyongyang.

'Wasting time'

The Rodong Sinmun, North Korea's official party newspaper, on Tuesday accused Seoul of "wasting time" waiting for sanctions to be lifted only after denuclearisation is completed, without "taking a single action" on its own.

It called for steps to facilitate a restart of the previously jointly-run but now closed programmes, such as the Kaesong Industrial Complex and tours to the North's Mount Kumgang resort.

North Korea's propaganda website Uriminjokkiri also criticised South Korea for its stance of keeping sanctions on Tuesday, saying "sanctions and conversation cannot exist side by side." 

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