Kim Jong-un makes ‘rapid’ nuclear reactor upgrades despite Trump summit pledge to scrap nukes
Kim Jong-un has green lit improvements at the Yongbyon nuclear plant, according to monitoring group 38 North
NORTH Korea has made "rapid" upgrades to its nuclear reactor, despite promising to denuclearise at a summit with Donald Trump earlier this month.
Kim Jong-un has green lit improvements at the Yongbyon nuclear plant, according to.
It says satellite images show construction is continuing near the Experimental Light Water Reactor, where a new concrete driveway has been installed.
A new engineering office building also appears to have been completed and a second small building has been built.
Groundwork to dredge the nearby river - which provides the freshwater needed to cool the reactor - has continued upstream while downriver "other earth movements are ongoing".
And the nearby thermal plant showed coal bins are depleted - though this could only be compared to photos taken in May, before the US summit and its associated pledge.
However, authors Frank V. Pabian, Joseph S. Bermudez Jr. and Jack Liu, warned against linking the work to Kim Jong-un's recent pledge with Donald Trump.
They wrote: "Continued work at the Yongbyon facility should not be seen as having any relationship to North Korea’s pledge to denuclearize.
"The North’s nuclear cadre can be expected to proceed with business as usual until specific orders are issued from Pyongyang."
And 38North's managing editor, Jenny Town, posted on Twitter: "Infrastructure improvements continue at Yongbyon; underscores reason why an actual deal is necessary, not just a statement of lofty goals."
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The denuclearisation pledge between Kim and Trump earlier this month has been criticised for doing little to actually halt the North's nuke development.
Critics say it showed only a statement of intent, rather than an agreement binding the two parties to steps that will curb Kim's nuke programme.
However, North Korea also has a history of pledging to denuclearise but not actually following through.
In 1994 it gave up plutonium enrichment in exchange for aid, before the deal collapsed under George W Bush's watch when it was discovered it had been secretly enriching uranium for nukes.
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