New satellite images have surfaced showing activity at a North Korean missile assembly site.
Images taken on February 22, appear to show cars and trucks parked near a facility and rail cars in a nearby rail yard, where two cranes are erected.
They were taken at the Sanumdong facility near Pyongyang where ballistic missiles and satellite-launching rockets have previously been assembled.
The pictures come two days after images displayed increased activity at a North Korean satellite launching centre on the country’s West Coast.
Melissa Hanham is a weapons analyst and researcher at the One Earth Future Foundation, who has examined these images.
This satellite image captured on February 22 shows the Sanumdong research centre on the outskirts of Pyongyang, North Korea. Source: DigitalGlobe
She said the images are more likely connected to a satellite launch than any military missile activity.
“It is unlikely that it is anything but a space launch if a space launch at all,” she said.
Ms Hanham said the Sanumdong facility, where the most recent images where taken is “an assembly facility,” for both intercontinental missiles and “civilian” space launches.
“If you take the vehicle activity at the Sanumdong facility together with the activity that other institutions have seen at the Sohae space launch facility it is most likely that this is preparation for some kind of space launch.”
The Sohae facility was partly dismantled following President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's first summit in June last year, according NPR.
Activity has been spotted at the missile assembly site. Source: DigitalGlobe
“It is hard to gauge why North Korea is performing this activity now. Some of the satellite imagery shows activity even before Hanoi started,” she said.
“Kim Jong Un is aware that any kind of space launch would be taken by the US as a violation of UN sanctions.”
Donald Trump has said he would be surprised if the North Korean leader would authorise missile activity that was military related.
“I would be surprised in a negative way if he did anything in a negative way that was not per our understanding,” he said.
“Let’s see what happens, but I would be very disappointed if I saw testing.”
These latest pictures follow an unceremonious end to the second summit between North Korea and the United States in Vietnam which failed to secure a deal for denuclearisation.
Michael Fuchs, Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State under the Obama administration said at this time it is was still hard to determine the state of relations following the summit.
“What comes next? Was the Hanoi summit the end of chapter one of diplomacy between the two countries or was it the end of diplomacy.”
Despite a space launch being most likely, Ms Hanham admitted there is still a small possibility the activity could be missile related.
“It is definitely possible that it is an intercontinental ballistic missile but I would not say that it is likely.”
