North Korea is reportedly taking more steps to dismantle a key missile engine test site in line with an agreement the regime’s leader Kim Jong-un made with U.S. President Donald Trump at their summit in June.
U.S. Web site 38 North reported Tuesday that commercial satellite imagery taken August third shows more of the facilities and infrastructure apparently being modified or removed from the Sohae Satellite Launching Station in North Pyongan Province.
Analyst Joseph Bermudez Jr. wrote in the report that at the vertical engine test stand, used to test and develop engines for ballistic missiles and space launch vehicles, North Korea has continued to tear down the steel base structure and appears to be removing fuel and oxidizer tanks from dismantled bunkers.
The analyst said that while dismantlement of the vertical engine test stand represents a fulfillment of Kim’s agreement with Trump reached in Singapore, activity at the launch pad appears to go beyond that commitment.
The report, however, said that these activities must be viewed cautiously as "first steps" since neither is deemed to be permanent or irreversible.