Recent commercial satellite imagery showed signs of new construction and repair work being carried out at Punggye-ri, North Korea’s nuclear testing site. It is the first known construction at the site since it was shut down in 2018, United States (US) researchers said on Tuesday. The development has sparked fears that the country could resume testing weapons of mass destruction.
Specialists at the California-based James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) said in a report that the satellite images that were captured on Friday show very early signs of activity at the new site. This included the construction of a new building, the repair of another building, and what is thought to be lumber and sawdust.
I made a .gif with @DaveSchmerler showing the changes at North Korea's Punggye-ri nuclear test site. We've caught the construction very early, which means it's too early to tell what they're up to or how long it would take to get the test site back to a state of readiness. pic.twitter.com/Th75GP1NyM
— Dr. Jeffrey Lewis (@ArmsControlWonk) March 7, 2022
“The construction and repair work indicate that North Korea has made some decision about the status of the test site,” the report said. The analysts added that the new changes had come about only in the past few days and that it is still early to conclude what is being built or why.
“One possibility is that North Korea plans to bring the test site back to a state of readiness to resume nuclear explosive testing,” CNS researchers suggested. They also assessed that the test site is several months, if not years, from being ready in order to carry out new nuclear tests.
Article: North Korea’s Nuclear Fusion Research - Inertial confinement fusion (ICF) helps states with experience in nuclear testing to advance their weapons program without having to conduct further full-scale testing. @38NorthNK #northkorea #nuclearfusion https://t.co/VD6NYnuY5M pic.twitter.com/GgLfc6wYcS
— CNS (@JamesMartinCNS) February 15, 2022
“How long it would take North Korea to resume explosive testing at the site depends on the extent of the damage to the tunnels themselves, something we do not know with confidence. It is also possible that North Korea will resume nuclear testing at another location,” the report speculated.
Punggye-ri is North Korea’s only known nuclear test site. Between 2006 to 2017, the site helped conduct six nuclear weapons tests. However, it has remained shut since North Korea declared a self-imposed moratorium on nuclear weapons tests in 2018.
At the time, Pyongyang had announced that it was closing off testing tunnels at the site with explosions, blocking its entrances, and getting rid of all observation facilities, research buildings, and security posts. It also invited foreign media to observe the demolition.
Overturning this promise, leader Kim Jong Un has since said that he no longer feels obligated to be bound by that moratorium, as denuclearisation talks remain stalled. In fact, the secretive regime carried out its ninth missile launch of the year on Saturday.
Against this backdrop, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has been attempting to pass a text condemning North Korea’s “violations” of several UN resolutions on missile technology. The effort, which was led by the United States (US) and its European allies, failed on Monday, as they were unable to convince China and Russia to back it up.
Expressing regret at this failure, without mentioning China or Russia, US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that “Each ballistic missile launch that results in inaction by the Council erodes the credibility of the UN Security Council itself.”