US President Donald Trump says he would be very disappointed in North Korean leader Kim Jong-un if reports about rebuilding at a rocket launch site in North Korea were true.
Two US think tanks and South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported on Tuesday that work was underway to restore part of North Korea's Sohae Satellite Launching Station even as Trump met with the North Korean leader at a second summit in Hanoi last week.
"I would be very disappointed if that were happening," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, when asked if North Korea was breaking a promise.
"Well we're going to see. It's too early to see. ... It's a very early report. We're the ones that put it out. But I would be very, very disappointed in Chairman Kim, and I don't think I will be, but we'll see what happens. We'll take a look. It'll ultimately get solved."
North Korea began work to dismantle a missile engine test stand at Sohae last year after pledging to do so in a first summit with Trump in June.
A second summit between Trump and Kim broke down last week in Hanoi over differences on how far North Korea was willing to limit its nuclear program and the degree of US willingness to ease sanctions.
"We have a very nasty problem there. We have to solve a problem," Trump said, while adding in apparent reference to Kim: "The relationship is good."
Satellite images seen by 38 North, a Washington-based North Korea project, showed that structures on the Sohae launch pad had been rebuilt sometime between February 16 and March 2.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank released a separate report, also citing satellite imagery, that concluded North Korea was "pursuing a rapid rebuilding" at the site.
New of the rebuilding work at Sohae was first reported by Yonhap news agency, which quoted South Korea lawmakers on details of a briefing by the country's National Intelligence Service in Seoul.
A US government source said the work at Sohae likely began before the summit, which was preceded by a series of lower-level preparatory talks in February.
Trump's national security adviser, John Bolton, warned on Tuesday that new sanctions could be introduced if North Korea did not scrap its nuclear weapons program.
The breakdown of the February 27-28 summit and Bolton's sanctions threat have raised questions about the future of a dialogue process the Trump administration has pursued in an effort to persuade North Korea to abandon a nuclear weapons program that threatens the US.
Some analysts have interpreted the work at Sohae as an attempt by North Korea to put pressure on Washington to agree to a deal rather than as a definite move to resume tests there.
