Despite a totally disastrous round of talks between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his counterparts in Pyongyang a couple of weeks ago (wherein North Korea referred to U.S. demands as “gangster-like” — and not in a cool way), it seems North Korea is dismantling one of its nuclear facilities.
Citing information published by 38 North, the Associated Press reported that the facility — at a satellite launch site at Sohae — is being razed. Here’s what’s being taken down:
“…[A] rocket engine test stand used to develop liquid-fuel engines for ballistic missiles and space-launch vehicles and a rail-mounted processing building where space launch vehicles were assembled before being moved to the launch pad.”
38 North, a site that focuses on North Korean issues, relies heavily on satellite images to determine what Pyongyang is doing with its nuclear facilities. While dismantling the Sohae facility is important, it’s still a “first step:”
New commercial satellite imagery of the Sohae Satellite Launching Station indicates that the #DPRK has begun dismantling key facilities, including the rail-mounted processing building and and the nearby rocket engine test stand.https://t.co/ffdQ23QaWG
— 38 North (@38NorthNK) July 23, 2018
Although President Donald Trump maintains that all progress is due to his brief and inconclusive summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in early June, the fact is, North Korea was already starting to disassemble some facilities before the two men even met to discuss Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
Trump has also been making monthly statements about how long its been since North Korea fired a test missile:
A Rocket has not been launched by North Korea in 9 months. Likewise, no Nuclear Tests. Japan is happy, all of Asia is happy. But the Fake News is saying, without ever asking me (always anonymous sources), that I am angry because it is not going fast enough. Wrong, very happy!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 23, 2018
Many good conversations with North Korea-it is going well! In the meantime, no Rocket Launches or Nuclear Testing in 8 months. All of Asia is thrilled. Only the Opposition Party, which includes the Fake News, is complaining. If not for me, we would now be at War with North Korea!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 3, 2018
Kim, for his part, said in late 2017 that his nuclear weapons and missile programs were complete, and that his country no longer needed the test facilities.
Also, as ThinkProgress reported in late June, while Pyongyang is taking some equipment apart, it is still building and developing other nuclear facilities. At the time, Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association told us that for all the (unverified) dismantling that we’re seeing, North Koreans are “still churning out highly enriched uranium and plutonium that can be used to add to their existing stockpile of nuclear weapons.”
Analysts speaking to the Associated Press point out that Pyongyang is “giving up little” in dismantling the aforementioned facilities, and that without the presence of international inspectors, there’s no way to verify or certify what has been taken apart and how it will affect North Korea’s current arsenal and future capabilities.
The question of verification is a pretty big one — and yet, that word is in no way included in the very brief agreement Trump and Kim signed in that summit in Singapore.
There is also nothing approximating a timeline or tangible steps, in writing, that would help guide the process.
North Korea, meanwhile, seems to be hedging its bets.
In recent weeks, officials have held a series of meetings with China, as well as Russia, in an effort to strengthen economic and security ties with both countries and lessen the sting of sanctions.
Pyongyang was pursuing these meetings prior to the June 12 summit with President Trump, and is proceeding along the same path now.