North Korea ramps up work at nuclear site, satellite shows

Satellite images taken by DigitalGlobe and GeoEye in the past month show
heightened activity at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site in North Korea’s
northeast, including mining carts, excavation equipment and a large amount
of debris taken from inside a tunnel and piled around its entrance, James
Hardy, IHS Jane’s Asia-Pacific specialist, said in a statement Tuesday. The
most recent image was from May 9.

South Korean intelligence officials said last month that satellite images
showed North Korea was digging a new tunnel in what appeared to be
preparation for another nuclear test at the site. A new tunnel is likely
needed because existing ones probably caved in and became contaminated with
radioactive material after previous tests.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who took power in December following the
death of his father, Kim Jong-il, has vowed to place top priority on his
impoverished country’s military.

“It is very important that North Korea not miscalculate again and engage
in any future provocation,” Mr Davies, the top US envoy for North
Korea, said at the South Korean Foreign Ministry. “If they make the
right choices, there can be a different future for North Korea.”

Another nuclear test, however, would result in “swift and sure”
punishment at the UN Security Council, he said.

North Korea announced its planned rocket launch just two weeks after it had
struck a food aid-for-nuclear freeze deal with Washington – the result of
months of tedious, back-and-forth negotiations that was seen as something of
a breakthrough at the time.

The decision sent a “signal that they can’t be trusted to follow through
on their own undertakings and their own promises,” Mr Davies said.

“Words are no longer, quite frankly, interesting to us. What we want to
see is actions from North Korea.”

Source: AP

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