A 38 North exclusive with analysis by Jack Liu and Jenny Town

Reports of a recent briefing by South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) to the National Assembly’s intelligence committee noted that North Korea has started restoring structures on the rocket launch pad at its Sohae Satellite Launching Station (Tongchang-ri).

The North had previously started to dismantle the rail-mounted transfer building on the launch pad along with the engine test stand last year at the beginning of US-DPRK negotiations. While progress was quick at first, both the launch pad and engine test stand had remained in about the same condition since August 2018. However, based on commercial satellite imagery, efforts to rebuild these structures started sometime between February 16 and March 2, 2019.

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