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Photographs show new activity at N.Korea nuclear site
By AFP – Reuters Source:Agencies Published: 2013-2-22 0:53:01
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (center) inspects Korean People's Army Unit 323 on Thursday. Photo: AFP / Korean Central News Agency / KNS
North Korea has resumed activity at a nuclear site following its internationally condemned atomic test, amid fears that the regime is planning to trial further bombs.
Examining satellite photos, the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University detected a rise in traffic at the Punggye-ri site but cautioned that there was not enough evidence to assert that a new test was in the works.
The think tank said that there had been no sign of vehicles or people moving at the site for a day after North Korea carried out its third nuclear test on February 12 but that activity had resumed by February 15.
Writing on the institute's 38 North blog, analysts Jack Liu and Nick Hansen said the change over a few days may indicate that North Korea "took safety precautions to ensure radioactivity levels were sufficiently low before sending personnel back into the area."
North Korea is believed to have tightly sealed off the site, making it difficult for the US and other nations to detect from the air whether Pyongyang was using uranium, which would prove it has a second nuclear method in addition to its plutonium program.
But the analysts found activity in two different parts of the site. They said that if North Korea detonated the bomb in a tunnel in the northern area, "then the southern tunnel would be readily available for a fourth test."
Despite widespread international condemnation, North Korea has taken on a defiant tone since its latest nuclear test, leading to fears that it will conduct another blast or long-range rocket test.
North Korea said Thursday it bolstered its defenses against a "hostile" US with its third nuclear test, noting that countries that had bowed to US pressure to abandon their nuclear plans had suffered "tragic consequences."
The North's official Korean Central News Agency made the statement in apparent reference to Libya, which abandoned its nuclear program in 2003 in a bid to mend relations with the US and later saw leader Muammar Gaddafi overthrown in an uprising that was eventually supported militarily by Washington.
"The tragic consequences in those countries which abandoned halfway their nuclear programs ... clearly prove that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea was very far-sighted and just when it made the (nuclear) option," said the commentary.
North Korea has resumed activity at a nuclear site following its internationally condemned atomic test, amid fears that the regime is planning to trial further bombs.
Examining satellite photos, the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University detected a rise in traffic at the Punggye-ri site but cautioned that there was not enough evidence to assert that a new test was in the works.
The think tank said that there had been no sign of vehicles or people moving at the site for a day after North Korea carried out its third nuclear test on February 12 but that activity had resumed by February 15.
Writing on the institute's 38 North blog, analysts Jack Liu and Nick Hansen said the change over a few days may indicate that North Korea "took safety precautions to ensure radioactivity levels were sufficiently low before sending personnel back into the area."
North Korea is believed to have tightly sealed off the site, making it difficult for the US and other nations to detect from the air whether Pyongyang was using uranium, which would prove it has a second nuclear method in addition to its plutonium program.
But the analysts found activity in two different parts of the site. They said that if North Korea detonated the bomb in a tunnel in the northern area, "then the southern tunnel would be readily available for a fourth test."
Despite widespread international condemnation, North Korea has taken on a defiant tone since its latest nuclear test, leading to fears that it will conduct another blast or long-range rocket test.
North Korea said Thursday it bolstered its defenses against a "hostile" US with its third nuclear test, noting that countries that had bowed to US pressure to abandon their nuclear plans had suffered "tragic consequences."
The North's official Korean Central News Agency made the statement in apparent reference to Libya, which abandoned its nuclear program in 2003 in a bid to mend relations with the US and later saw leader Muammar Gaddafi overthrown in an uprising that was eventually supported militarily by Washington.
"The tragic consequences in those countries which abandoned halfway their nuclear programs ... clearly prove that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea was very far-sighted and just when it made the (nuclear) option," said the commentary.
Posted in: Asia-Pacific