U.S. officials are "watching in real time" developments at North Korea's Sohae long-range launch site, which researchers believe is back to normal operating status after Chairman Kim Jong Un twice pledged to dismantle it, according to a source identified as a senior State Department official.
"The intent of the North Koreans in this matter is known only to them, we don't know why they are taking these steps," the State Department official said, reports NBC News. "They need to keep their commitments to the president of the United States."
In the past, the facility had been used to launch satellites, which uses technology similar to that used for intercontinental ballistic missiles. Kim had agreed to dismantle it last June during his summit with President Donald Trump and again with South Korea's President Moon Jae-in in September.
Talks between Trump and Kim collapsed Feb. 28, after which reports began to surface that work was being done at the closed facility.
The images show "the ease with which [North Korea] can reverse steps it might take toward denuclearization in the future," an analysis by Joseph Bermudez and Victor Cha of Beyond Parallel, a research project funded by the think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies states.
The analysis stressed there have been no images showing a missile being moved to the launch pad.
Trump said this week he would be "very, very disappointed" in Kim if the site has been restored.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.