North Korea rebuilding Sohae rocket launch site, say observers

The satellite evidence, coming from several US think tanks and testimony from the South Korean intelligence service, appears to show rapid progress has been made in rebuilding structures on the rocket launch pad at the Sohae site at Tongchang-ri.

Sohae has been North Korea's main satellite launch facility since 2012. It has also been used for testing engines for missiles capable of reaching the US.

But it has never been used for testing the ballistic missiles which have been considered so provocative.

"This distinction is important," said managing editor of monitoring group 38 North, Jenny Town.

"The North Koreans likely see the rebuilding not as an active part of their missile program, but of their civilian space programme - a distinction they have made repeatedly in the past," she said.

Town said the rebuilding of structures at the site could signal a lack of trust in the negotiations process.

The second summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ended last week in Hanoi without any deal or agreement.

The two leaders were unable to agree on how far North Korea should progress with denuclearisation before it was granted some sanctions relief.

In a television interview on Tuesday, US National Security Adviser John Bolton said North Korea could yet face more sanctions.

He said Washington would continue to watch whether Pyongyang was committed to giving up its nuclear weapons programme "and everything associated with it".

"If they're not willing to do it, then I think President Trump has been very clear. They're not going to get relief from the crushing economic sanctions that have been imposed on them, and we'll look at ramping those sanctions up in fact."

Observers, though, warn that adding fresh sanctions could completely stall the peace efforts.

"North Korea always reacts to the imposition of more sanctions in the same way: defiantly," Town said.

"Imposing new sanctions now is only going to deflate whatever political will there may be to keep negotiating."