US analysts say North Korea appears to have restored normal operations at a long-range rocket launch site it partially dismantled last year as part of disarmament steps.
Some experts say North Korea is trying to convey displeasure over the breakdown of a summit last week between leader Kim Jong-un and President Donald Trump over what the Americans said were Kim's excessive demands for sanctions relief.
North Korea-focused website 38 North said Thursday that commercial satellite images from March 6 indicate that the launch site appears to have returned to "normal operational status" following rapid construction to rebuild a launch pad and a rocket engine test stand.
The Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies published similar findings Thursday and said the North's actions amount to a "snapback" from the moderate dismantlement it undertook following the first Trump-Kim summit last June.
"The rebuilding activities at Sohae demonstrate how quickly North Korea can easily render reversible any steps taken toward scrapping its WMD program with little hesitation," the CSIS said in a study. "This poses challenges for the U.S. goal of final, irreversible and verifiable denuclearization."
Trump said Thursday that he's a "little disappointed" by the reports of the new North Korean activity and that time will tell if U.S. diplomacy with the reclusive country will be successful.
The Sohae satellite launching centre in Tongchang-ri, a seaside region in western North Korea, is where the North carried out satellite launches in recent years, resulting in UN sanctions over claims that they were disguised tests of banned missile technology.
Some experts see the North as trying to put pressure on Washington and Seoul, which has acted as a mediator, to make a deal by creating an impression that it could resume missile or rocket tests.
South Korea's spy agency has also told lawmakers in a closed-door intelligence briefing that increased vehicle movement was detected at a missile research centre on the outskirts of Pyongyang where the North is believed to build long-range missiles targeting the U.S. mainland.
South Korea's Defense Ministry said Thursday that it is carefully monitoring North Korean nuclear and missile facilities and that the U.S. and South Korean militaries were closely coordinating intelligence over the developments at Tongchang-ri and the missile research centre.
