Satellite Images Show North Korea Scrubbed Nuclear Test Site Before Unilaterally Destroying It
Source: The Daily Beast
Donald Trump said destroying the site was ‘a very smart and gracious gesture.’ Experts say it looks more like an attempt to cover up work that’s already been accomplished.
ADAM RAWNSLEY
05.30.18 4:44 AM ET
President Trump is still hoping he can meet with Kim Jong Un and convince him to give up his nukes. But new satellite imagery of North Korea’s nuclear test site suggests that the North’s may not be game for the “complete, verifiable and irreversible” dismantling of their nuclear program Washington has called for.
North Korea destroyed its Punggye-ri nuclear test site on Friday in front of an audience of reporters after unilaterally offering to destroy the site in mid-May. North Korean state media hailed the move as “an important process for global nuclear disarmament” carried out with “high-level transparency,” and President Trump praised it as “a very smart and gracious gesture.” But some experts suspect the site may have been sanitized by the North Koreans before reporters arrived.
Well before the dismantlement ceremony, satellite imagery of the south entrance obtained by the Middlebury Institute for International Studies show activity at the site as the North began to remove guard structures. The photo shows a heavy truck at the entrance to the south tunnel at the site.
The imagery was captured on May 7, a day before Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited North Korea for a second time and five days before North Korean officials officially announced a schedule for the destruction of the site. Video of the south tunnel entrance recorded by Sky News’ Tom Cheshire on the day the test site was dismantled also shows parts of the tunnel’s walls carved out where cables carrying data from the test chamber would be. As early as May 2, U.S. intelligence officials told CBS News that the North had begun to remove cables from the site.
Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/satellite-images-show-north-korea-scrubbed-nuclear-test-site-before-unilaterally-destroying-it?ref=home
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