SEOUL - The presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said Monday the national security councils of South Korea and the United States are keeping close communication amid reports about North Korea’s restoration of a rocket launch site.
The message was in response to reporters’ questions about whether South Korean National Security Advisor Chung Eui-yong plans to hold phone talks with his US counterpart John Bolton later in the day. Bolton said in an interview with ABC that he will be speaking with his South Korean counterpart Monday morning and he may discuss satellite images that show rebuilding activity at the North’s missile launch site. Chung may have a phone conservation with Bolton on Monday afternoon.
Speculations have risen since last week as a series of reports by Seoul’s spy agency and two U.S. think tanks show some restoration work at the North’s long-range missile launch site in Dongchang-ri.
US news media also reported increased activity at the missile assembly facility in Sanum-dong, spawning speculation about the North’s possible preparation to launch a missile or a satellite-carrying rocket.
US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ended their summit on Feb. 27-28 in Hanoi without any agreement. Bolton said that the US is watching North Korean activities “unblinkingly.”