Daily Times

The Trump administration on Thursday identified the missile test engine site that it says North Korea has pledged to destroy, but the president’s latest comments about resolving the nuclear standoff have raised new questions about what concessions Pyongyang has made.

President Donald Trump had said on June 12 after his summit with Kim Jong Un that the North Korean leader was “already destroying” a missile site, in addition to committing to “complete denuclearization” of the Korean Peninsula.

The testing site in question is in Ch’olsan County, North Pyongan province, and is sometimes is referred to as the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground, according to an administration official. The official, who wasn’t authorized to discuss the issue publicly and spoke only on condition of anonymity, would not answer questions about whether the site was already being destroyed, but said that as negotiations moved forward, the administration would continue to monitor the area where North Korea tested liquid propellant engines for long-range ballistic missiles.

North Korea conducted satellite launches into space from Sohae in 2012 and 2016, drawing international condemnation as the rocket technology used could be adapted for use with ballistic missiles. There are also facilities there for testing missile engines. Commercial satellite imagery of the Sohae station from June 12 shows no apparent activity related to dismantlement of its rocket engine test stand, according to 38 North, a Washington-based website that tracks developments in the isolated nation’s weapons programs.

Trump boasted at a Cabinet meeting Thursday that his administration has had “tremendous success” with North Korea, adding that denuclearization had already begun.

The president’s comments, however, ran counter to remarks Defense Secretary James Mattis made the day before. Mattis told reporters Wednesday that he wasn’t aware that North Korea had taken any steps yet toward denuclearization.

Published in Daily Times, June 23^rd 2018.