UPDATE 1-Trump would be 'disappointed' in Kim if reports about North Korea launch site true
Two U.S. think tanks and South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported on Tuesday that work was underway to restore part of North Korea's Sohae Satellite Launching Station even as Trump met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at a second summit in Hanoi last week. "I would be very disappointed if that were happening," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
"It's a very early report. We're the ones that put it out. But I would be very, very disappointed in Chairman Kim, and I don't think I will be, but we'll see what happens. We'll take a look. It'll ultimately get solved." North Korea began work to dismantle a missile engine test stand at Sohae last year after pledging to do so in a first summit with Trump in June.
A second summit between Trump and Kim broke down last week over differences on how far North Korea was willing to limit its nuclear program and the degree of U.S. willingness to ease sanctions. Satellite images seen by 38 North, a Washington-based North Korea project, showed that structures on the Sohae launch pad had been rebuilt sometime between Feb. 16 and March 2, Jenny Town, managing editor at the project and an analyst at the Stimson Center think tank, told Reuters.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank released a separate report, also citing satellite imagery, that concluded North Korea was "pursuing a rapid rebuilding" at the site. Trump's national security adviser, John Bolton, warned on Tuesday that new sanctions could be introduced if on North Korea Pyongyang did not scrap its nuclear weapons program. (Reporting by Jeff Mason; Writing by David Brunnstrom; editing by Richard Chang and Jonathan Oatis)
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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