Nuclear security

North Korea reportedly restoring nuclear facilities

North Korea is reportedly restoring facilities at its long-range rocket launch site that it had dismantled as part of disarmament steps last year.

The development came after a high-stakes nuclear summit last week between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump ended without any agreement.

South Korea’s JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported Wednesday that the country’s spy service gave such an assessment on the North’s Tongchang-ri launch site to lawmakers in a private briefing Tuesday.

An article from 38 North, a website specializing in North Korea studies, cited commercial satellite imagery as indicating that efforts to rebuild some structures at the site started sometime between Feb. 16 and March 2.

Dismantling parts of its long-range rocket launch facility in the northwest was among several steps the North took last year when it entered talks with the United States and South Korea. The site is where North Korea carried out satellite launches in recent years, inviting rounds of sanctions from the U.N. that saw it as disguised test of missile technology.