‘A GREAT DECEPTION’

North Korea ‘Continuing Missile Program at 16 Secret Sites,’ Satellite Images Show

Undermines Trump’s boasts that he stopped country’s nuclear weapons program.

North Korea is carrying on with its ballistic missile program at 16 secret facilities, new satellite images have revealed, undermining President Donald Trump’s boasts that he persuaded the hermit kingdom to abandon its weapons production and work toward denuclearization. The images, reported by The New York Times, show North Korea is continuing to make improvements at more than a dozen launching sites. The development suggests North Korea’s promise to shut down one major test site was an attempted deception. The secret missile bases were identified in a study to be published Monday by the Beyond Parallel program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank. The disclosure is another blow for negotiations between the U.S. and North Korea. Nuclear talks between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and a high-ranking North Korean official were called off last week as the two sides hit an impasse. The U.S. believes North Korea’s progress on nuclear disarmament has been too slow, while Kim Jong Un wants the U.S. to ease up its sanctions against his country.

POMPEO AND CIRCUMSTANCES

Can North Korea Denuclearization Wait Forever?

Donald Kirk