Washington: US President Donald Trump has expressed his disappointment over the reports about North Korea restoring parts of Sohae Satellite Launching Station it began to dismantle after pledging to do so in a summit last year.
While Trump on Wednesday said that he would be very disappointed in North Korean leader Kim Jong Un if reports about rebuilding at a rocket launch site in North Korea were true, Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, has warned North Korea of new sanctions if it did not scrap its nuclear weapons program, reported New York Times.
Two US 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, when asked if North Korea was breaking a promise. ?Well we’re going to see. It’s too early to see. … 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 in Hanoi over differences on how far North Korea was willing to limit its nuclear program and the degree of US willingness to ease sanctions. “We have a very nasty problem there. We have to solve a problem,” Trump said, while adding in apparent reference to Kim:”The relationship is good.” Satellite images have shown that structures on the Sohae launch pad had been rebuilt sometime between Feb 16 and March 2. 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. Furthermore, the breakdown of the Feb 27-28 summit and Bolton’s sanctions threat have raised questions about the future of a dialogue process the Trump administration has pursued in an effort to persuade North Korea to abandon a nuclear weapons program that threatens the United States. (UNI)
