PANTS ON FIRE

North Korea Is Still Building Its Ballistic Missile Plant

Throws doubt on pledges made to Trump.

Who could have predicted that Kim Jong Un wasn’t the most trustworthy person on the planet? Satellite images have revealed that North Korea is still making improvements to a key ballistic missile plant despite the wooly worded pledge to denuclearize that Donald Trump hailed as a triumph following a summit in Singapore last month. The satellite images, taken by San Francisco-based Planet Labs and analyzed by researchers at the Middlebury Institute for International Studies (MIIS) in Monterrey, California, show Pyongyang completing more structures at the Chemical Material Institute, which the researchers say is based in the North Korean city of Hamhung. “The Chemical Materials Institute seems like they have one function, and that’s pumping out parts for their missile program,” said David Schmerler, a research associate at MIIS. The researchers say the plant is known for making carbon composite parts for solid-fueled missiles like nozzles, airframes, and nosecones used in re-entry vehicles.