The images, captured by Planet Labs and analyzed by experts from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, indicate that the installation, which is located in the village of Wollo-ri, near the country's capital, Pyongyang, has not been previously disclosed to the public, is believed to be linked to North Korea's nuclear program and remains active.
"It has all the signatures of a North Korean nuclear installation - a security perimeter, on-site housing, monuments to visits by unannounced leaders and an underground installation. And it is right next to a factory bottled water that has none of these characteristics, "Jeffrey Lewis, a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, specializing in open source intelligence, told CNN before publishing his own report.
"The big thing that comes out is all the traffic of vehicles - cars, trucks, shipping containers. This factory is very active. This activity has not slowed down - not during the negotiations and not now. It is still manufacturing nuclear weapons", did he declare. told CNN.
Although the facility was identified in 2015 by researchers at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, Lewis and his fellow researchers previously chose not to publicize the facility because they could not identify its specific role in the nuclear program from North Korea.
However, the publication of the site's name and function in a future book written by Ankit Panda, a North Korean expert who works for the Federation of American Scientists, makes its location of public interest, they told CNN.
In his book, "Kim Jong Un and the Bomb", Panda writes that the facility would be primarily associated with the manufacture of warheads and could also serve as a storage location for these weapons if North Korean leader Kim Jong Un were to dispersing its store "for better reactivity in the event of a crisis", according to passages obtained by CNN.
"We have been looking at this site for a long time and knew it was associated with the nuclear program. When Ankit Panda asked me if we knew of a site near somewhere called Wollo-ri that was involved in the manufacture of nuclear weapons, it all clicked, "said Lewis.
The CIA and the Pentagon declined to comment when asked if the facility was supposed to play a role in North Korea's nuclear program.
Blocked talks
The public disclosure of another previously unidentified North Korean facility again undermines President Donald Trump's infamous 2018 assertion that North Korea is no longer a nuclear threat.
This also happens while talks between Washington and Pyongyang remain stalled.
US officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, continued to insist that the Trump administration remain focused on the complete denuclearization of North Korea, despite the fact that Kim never officially accepted such conditions and intelligence officials maintain that Pyongyang does not intend to surrender his weapons. store.
A United Nations report released earlier this year found that North Korea continued to develop its weapons program in 2019, thereby violating long-standing United Nations Security Council sanctions. intensity, diversity and consistency. "
Meanwhile, the North Korean state media has said in recent months and weeks that the country's leaders have no immediate intention of engaging in the kind of high-level talks with the United States that took place last year.
In June, North Korea closed all lines of communication with "enemy" South Korea - a likely sign that Pyongyang is taking a more confrontational stance towards Seoul after more than two years of detente and failed peace talks .
Kim Yo Jong, Kim Jong Un's sister and one of the country's most powerful officials, seems to have played a major role in North Korea's decision to cut communication with the South.
"Kim Yo Jung's provocative gestures and Kim Jong Un's follow-up actions are probably calculated," a South Korean official told CNN this week. South Korea is still trying to coordinate talks between the United States and North Korea, but Pyongyang seems not to have responded, the official added, using a different spelling for Kim's name.
In addition, former national security adviser John Bolton has repeatedly said during the promotion of his new book that Trump was played by Kim and that the threat from North Korea is "absolutely greater" today than it was before two summits between leaders since 2018.
"The idea that only that oil layer of compliments to this brutal dictator would convince him that you could make a deal with Donald Trump, I thought, was both surprisingly naive and dangerous," Bolton told ABC News in an interview with last month.
"The threat from North Korea today is absolutely greater. Because while all of these photo ops have taken place, there is no doubt that North Korea's work on its nuclear and ballistic missile programs continued. It is one of the most secret societies on the planet, "he said.
State Department deputy secretary Steve Biegun will likely try to avoid discussing Bolton's claims when he meets his South Korean counterparts this week, and plans to have a frank discussion on the new leadership of President Moon Jae-in's national security, like some of these officials have connections with North Koreans, an American official and another source close to his plans told CNN on Tuesday.
Moon recently appointed Park Jiewon, a former lawmaker and chief of staff, as the country's new spy chief.
Park is one of North Korea's greatest experts on North Korea, but, like Moon, has been criticized by the Conservatives for being too close to Pyongyang. Park was sentenced to prison for secretly sending money north to organize the inter-Korean summit in 2000.
During his meeting with his South Korean counterpart, Biegun will reinforce the American position according to which there will be no easing of sanctions for North Korea, except in the event of denuclearization. He is also expected to urge the South Korean foreign ministry to maintain its task force with the United States, although the group has been criticized by Moon's new national security team, the sources said.
Biegun said Wednesday the United States is ready to resume talks with North Korea after Kim has appointed a "prepared and qualified" chief negotiator, but the administration had not requested a meeting before his visit. in Seoul.
"When President Kim appoints me a counterpart, who is ready and able to negotiate on these issues, they will find us ready at this precise moment. Dialogue can lead to action, but action is impossible without dialogue", a he declared.
North Korea's nuclear program to be active
At the same time, recent satellite images suggest that North Korea continues to actively build up its stockpile of nuclear weapons at sites like Wollo-ri, which "has a number of signatures suggesting that it has a role in the nuclear program of the DPRK, "experts told CNN.
"The site is distinguished by a strong security perimeter and what appear to be several high-rise residential buildings on the site (next to a tree-lined pond)," said Lewis and fellow researchers Catherine Dill, David Laboon and David Schmerler.
"North Korea tends to focus on building better housing as an advantage for scientists and technicians involved in nuclear and missile programs. Placing this accommodation on site and within a secure perimeter separates personnel installation of the neighboring community, "added experts. . "In addition, although there are monuments on the Wollo-ri site which indicate visits by leaders, we do not find any state media reports on such visits. These are all features of other facilities nuclear weapons of the DPRK. "
In addition, the site appears to contain an underground facility, according to satellite images, although experts recognize that it is difficult to assess the extent of this facility.
"The site itself is backed by a hill large enough to accommodate an underground facility (see figure below) and is largely terraced. A number of buildings could serve as entrances to such an facility," write Lewis. and his team.
Satellite photos also reveal constant movement of vehicles at the site, indicating that it remains active and has an ongoing role in North Korea's nuclear development, according to analysts at the Middlebury Institute.
"Vehicle traffic at the site suggests that manufacturing at Wollo-ri continued during the summit process which spanned from the Singapore meeting in June 2018 to the June 2019 meeting between Trump and Kim in the DMZ, "they said.
"Recent satellite images show that vehicle traffic continues, suggesting that the DPRK continues to manufacture nuclear warheads or their components," added the experts.
CNN's Kylie Atwood and Joshua Berlinger contributed to this report.
