North Korea has expanded a key missile manufacturing facility, according to researchers, raising doubts about Pyongyang’s commitment to abandon its advanced weapons programmes just weeks after a historic summit between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un.
Satellite images analysed by the Middlebury Institute of International Studies show rapid construction at the plant near Hamhung city in recent months — a period during which Pyongyang had engaged Washington and Seoul in deepening diplomatic exchanges.
The development lends weight to North Korea’s critics who say the country was never serious about rapprochement and used the diplomatic manoeuvres as a cover for completing its arsenal of missiles capable of hitting the continental US or US army bases in South Korea and Japan.