North Korea could be preparing tests at rocket launch site

New satellite image shows activity at facility Kim said had been dismantled

A South Korean sentry post (foreground) and a North Korean one facing each other across the border in Paju, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. Activity at the North's Sohae rocket launch facility includes what appears to be a newly arrived shipping container
A South Korean sentry post (foreground) and a North Korean one facing each other across the border in Paju, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. Activity at the North's Sohae rocket launch facility includes what appears to be a newly arrived shipping container at the engine test stand. PHOTO: EPA-EFE

TOKYO • North Korea could be preparing to conduct engine tests at a long-range rocket launch site, stepping up pressure on United States President Donald Trump ahead of a year-end deadline it imposed to get a better deal from the US in nuclear disarmament talks.

A satellite image from Thursday shows activity at its Sohae launch facility, which leader Kim Jong Un once said he had dismantled in a concession to Mr Trump.

The move comes as both sides revisit old insults - "Rocket Man" from Mr Trump and "dotard" from North Korea - while Pyongyang said Washington's behaviour will determine what "Christmas gift" it gets from Mr Kim.

The commercial satellite image shows activity at the Sohae facility that includes what appears to be a newly arrived shipping container at the engine test stand, according to Dr Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Programme at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, who works with the US-based imaging company Planet Labs.

"This isn't the Christmas gift that North Korea promises, but it is a lump of coal in Trump's stocking," said Dr Lewis.

North Korea's deadline puts one of Mr Trump's biggest foreign policy achievements on the line just as he gears up for re-election. Mr Kim has demanded that Mr Trump ease up on sanctions choking his country's paltry economy and end what Pyongyang sees as Washington's "hostile intent" towards it.

Mr Kim placed a moratorium about two years ago on the testing of nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles that could deliver a warhead to the US, to help his talks with Mr Trump.

But the bonhomie has been tested this week, with Mr Trump reviving his derisive "Rocket Man" nickname for Mr Kim and again threatening to use military force against North Korea.

One of Pyongyang's top nuclear envoys, who once praised the "mysteriously wonderful" chemistry between the leaders, slammed Mr Trump for using words that had prompted "waves of hatred" among the North Korean people.

She also dusted off an old insult the state has used for Mr Trump.

"If any language and expressions stoking the atmosphere of confrontation are used once again on purpose at a crucial moment as now, that must really be diagnosed as the relapse of the dotage of a dotard," said Ms Choe Son Hui, first vice-minister of foreign affairs, as quoted by the state's official Korean Central News Agency on Thursday.

Any shift by Mr Kim could come as soon as the North Korean leader's annual New Year address, which he has previously used to ratchet tensions up and down.

The ruling Workers' Party announced a rare meeting in Pyongyang for later this month "to discuss and decide on crucial issues" due to the "changed situation at home and abroad".

Still, North Korea might not want to push Mr Trump too far, according to Dr Yoo Hoyeol, who teaches North Korean studies at Korea University and formerly advised South Korea's unification ministry and defence ministry.

He described Ms Choe's comments as "moderated".

"Trump may be the most favourable US president for North Korea," Dr Yoo said. "So the North probably doesn't intend to go further to the very extreme."

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on December 07, 2019, with the headline North Korea could be preparing tests at rocket launch site. Subscribe