North Korean leader Kim Jong Un | Image: KCTV, June 20, 2021
North Korea has been restoring demolished tunnels at its only known nuclear test site in the country’s northeast, South Korea’s military announced on Friday, in the latest indication that Pyongyang may be preparing for a future underground nuclear weapons test.
South Korean and U.S. authorities are “closely monitoring related activities in close cooperation,” Seoul’s Ministry of National Defense said in a statement to reporters.
The DPRK claimed to blow up the tunnels at Punggye-ri in May 2018, inviting international reporters to witness the demolition a month after North Korean leader Kim Jong
North Korea has been restoring demolished tunnels at its only known nuclear test site in the country’s northeast, South Korea’s military announced on Friday, in the latest indication that Pyongyang may be preparing for a future underground nuclear weapons test.
South Korean and U.S. authorities are “closely monitoring related activities in close cooperation,” Seoul’s Ministry of National Defense said in a statement to reporters.
Bryan Betts is the Deputy Editor of NK News. He has covered the Koreas for Yonhap News Agency, The Diplomat and Korea Exposé and previously worked as a newspaper reporter in South Carolina and New Mexico.
Chaewon Chung covers U.S., Chinese, and Japanese politics and national security in relation to North Korea. She previously worked at Coda Story covering disinformation and technology with a focus on the East Asia.