Anchor: A new report by the think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies(CSIS) suggests that North Korea is swiftly rebuilding a rocket testing facility at Dongchang-ri that had been inactive since last summer. 
Our Park Jong-hong has this report.

Report: Satellite images taken of Dongchang-ri two days after the failed Washington-Pyongyang summit shows that North Korea has started to restore the Sohae missile launch site.

The Washington-based ​Center for Strategic and International Studies(CSIS) unveiled the images on its site Beyond Parallel on Tuesday. 

Activity at the site revealed the replacement of a roof and a door at the facility, the operation of two construction cranes, as well as several vehicles and the placement of supplies next to the vertical engine test stand.

The facility in Dongchang-ri on the nation's northwest coast has been serving as the main site for long-range satellite launches but was not used for the launch of intercontinental ballistic missiles.

CSIS analysts believe the current activity is "deliberate and purposeful" and is intended to show North Korea's resolve in the wake of the Hanoi meeting that did not result in an agreement.

However, it isn't clear if the North began the restoration activity after the collapse of the summit. 38 North, a U.S.-based Web site that monitors North Korea, said on Tuesday that efforts to rebuild the structures started between February 16th and March second.

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service(NIS) also briefed the National Assembly’s intelligence committee on Tuesday that the North has begun to restore structures in Dongchang-ri. 

Lawmakers told reporters after the closed-door briefing that the NIS believes Pyongyang could have tried to either boost the publicity effect of dismantling the launching pad under the observation of experts should the summit have succeeded or to resume using the facility as a missile site. 

These developments come as John Bolton, the White House National Security Adviser, alluded to toughening economic sanctions on the North.

In interviews with several American media outlets including CNN and Fox News, Bolton said unless the North is willing to give up its nuclear weapons program, it will not receive economic sanctions relief. 
Park Jong-hong, KBS World Radio News.

[Photo : KBS]