Movement detected above North Korea's rumored secret nuclear site

[william]

The reports come as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un presses ahead with a sweeping nuclear buildup. Analysts estimate that North Korea—officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)—may have produced about 50 nuclear warheads and likely has enough fissile material for 90 more, according to estimates by the Federation of American Scientists. The country also continues to expand its missile arsenal, including intercontinental ballistic missiles believed capable of carrying nuclear payloads.

Satellite imagery analyzed by North Korea-focused site NK Pro shows new concrete structures at Hagap, an underground facility located about 75 miles northeast of Pyongyang and three miles north of Hyangsan, North Pyongan Province, near the base of the Myohyangsan mountains.

The development brought renewed attention to the site, long speculated to be a node in North Korea's nuclear program.

A North Korean defector, Kang Myung-do, said the site was linked to the Third Engineer Bureau, the same military unit that built core facilities at Yongbyon, the country's primary nuclear complex near the Gaphyeondong region, previously known as Hagap, in the Jagang province city of Huicheon.

North Korea has never publicly acknowledged Hagap or its purpose. State media outlet the Korean Central News Agency cited leader Kim Jong Un as saying during an August 18 visit to a navy destroyer: "The security environment around the DPRK is getting more serious day by day and the prevailing situation requires us to make a radical and swift change in the existing military theory and practice and rapid expansion of nuclearization."

Kim has pledged repeatedly to grow his nuclear capabilities "exponentially," framing them as essential to regime survival.

U.S. President Donald Trump met with Kim on three occasions during his first term in bid to get him to abandon his nuclear ambitions.

Trump has said he hopes to hold another round of talks with the North Korean leader, and newly minted South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has made denuclearization a central policy goal of his administration.

Still, some experts argue the goal is no longer realistic, suggesting Washington adopt a strategy of managing its relationship with Pyongyang.

Ankit Panda, a nuclear policy expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told Newsweek in February, "It'd be better to have some diplomatic overture that could help reduce the risk of nuclear war and bring more stability to Northeast Asia."

MSN