The images were taken on June 21.
Handout/Getty Images
Satellite images from last week reveal that North Korea is making “rapid” improvements to its main nuclear research facility, the Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center.
The images were taken on June 21 and published on Wednesday by North Korean monitor 38 North, just a few weeks after President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed an agreement to denuclearize the Korean peninsula.
According to the report, improvements to the facility include several new buildings, a new engineering office, a new cooling water pump house, and a building that could be used for hospitality purposes.
The satellite photos also show a radiochemical laboratory that could be active.
38 North wrote in its report that the improvements to the facility have nothing to do with North Korea’s commitment to denuclearization, as the country’s nuclear employees are “expected to proceed with business as usual until specific orders are issued from Pyongyang.”
President Trump and Kim signed an agreement earlier this month when they met for a historic summit in Singapore. In it, the United States offered North Korea “security guarantees” in exchange for a full commitment to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
Critics of the agreement said it was too unspecific and forced the U. S. to make large concessions without securing anything in return.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said the deal proved Trump was “a pretty weak negotiator.”
“I would have expected that in giving up a major concession like the cessation of military exercises we would have at least gotten an agreement to start the cataloging of nuclear weapons and sites inside North Korea,” Murphy said.
“Kim’s commitment on disarmament is weaker than previous commitments and now Beijing and Pyongyang are cheering the cessation of military exercises.”
“This is a dream come true for Kim,” the senator continued.
North Korea claimed in May that it had dismantled another of its nuclear facilities, the Punggye-ri nuclear site. Experts have been unable to prove this claim.
Kelcey Caulder is a News Fellow at IJR. Previously, she worked with the web team at the Los Angeles Times and led the Student Press Law Center’s campa… more
