N.Korea Suspected of Expanding Missile Plant

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that talks to end North Korea’s nuclear program are “going well” despite concerns Pyongyang may be actually bolstering its nuclear and missile facilities.

While the reports – some relying on satellite imagery predating the summit – have not been officially verified, they suggest that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has much to discuss during an expected trip to Pyongyang in the coming days. The North flight-tested three ICBMs past year capable of reaching the USA mainland.

“There is absolutely unequivocal evidence that they are trying to deceive the U.S”.

Some North Korea experts, however, have questioned Pyongyang’s willingness to make good on Trump’s nuclear goals.

After the meeting, Trump tweeted that there was no longer a nuclear threat from the country.

Pompeo last visited Pyongyang in May ahead of the Trump-Kim summit and traveled there secretly in early April while he was director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Sung Kim, the US ambassador to the Philippines, who has been a key member of negotiating team, met over the weekend with North Korean officials in the Demilitarized Zone between the Koreas.

National Security Adviser John Bolton said the United States could dismantle the regime’s stockpile in a year if Kim would cooperate.

What he meant, Nauert said, was that compared to one year ago, when North Korea launched its first intercontinental ballistic missile, “We’re in a good spot today”.

The official said that the North Koreans had largely refused in talks with Sung Kim to respond to attempts to define the key terms of an eventual agreement, including the words complete, verifiable and irreversible.

The daily, citing intelligence officials, said that the U.S. intelligence officials have concluded that North Korea does not intend to fully surrender its nuclear stockpiles.

On Wednesday, “peace” and “prosperity” teams comprising a mix of athletes from the two Koreas will play against each other, while on Thursday, the North and South Korean teams will face off.

When the situation around the Korean Peninsula heated up following the North’s nuclear and missile tests in early September 2017, the U.S. leader actually opted for open confrontation, albeit only verbally, rather than for diplomatic efforts.

North Korea’s state media are projecting a new hands-on, down-to-earth image of leader Kim Jong-un, picturing him in trousers smudged with dirt.

“We can get – physically, we would be able to dismantle the overwhelming bulk of their programs within a year”, he said.

On Saturday, he visited a reed farm in Sindo county, also on the Sino-North Korea border.

“We’re continuing to make progress”, she added. “A lot of work is left to be done, certainly”.