A satellite photo of the Punggye-Ri nuclear test site in North Korea May 14, 2018. Planet Labs Inc/Handout via REUTERS
Reuters: North Korea is dismantling its nuclear site, but is it abandoning its arsenal or hiding evidence?
SEOUL (Reuters) - Satellite imagery shows North Korea dismantling facilities at its nuclear test site, but experts say the images can’t reveal whether it is the first step toward full denuclearization, or an attempt to cloak nuclear capabilities from outside observers.
North Korea’s intentions were thrown further into doubt on Wednesday, when it abruptly announced it may “reconsider” meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in June if the United States continues to insist on unilateral denuclearization.
Commercial satellite imagery - including photos taken by Planet Labs as recently as May 14 - show North Korea removing some structures around its nuclear test site at Punggye-ri, experts say.
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WNU Editor: Right now .... when it comes to North Korea .... we will have to assume the worse. And in this case the answer is yes .... they want to hide their nuclear arsenal (or at least a portion of it), and they need time to do it .... hence throwing cold water on future meetings and summits and slowing the whole process down to their timetable.
I've thought it was to stablize an unsafe area to China's satisfaction. If it did collapse as press accounts allege, China would want the area cleaned up. Their work has nothing to do with disarmament.
ReplyDeleteOf course kim doesn't want to give up his nukes. He will try to keep them to save his life. Ironically, in the end, this might kill him. Because he either gives them up and ends up dead (Ghadafi) or tries to hide them and gets caught (Kim). Nukes do not keep you alive. Only tons of nukes that you can use at your will and no longer need to hide because of MAD. Unless you have MAD parity,nukes are a liability and bad for your health. Time Kim understands this. He's not stupid.
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