You may recall that North Korea dismantled a missile test site last year as a show of supposedly-good faith following Trump's first meeting with Kim Jong-un, but the site is now being restored according to South Korean intelligence.
Now, I wouldn't call that a big surprise, but I do find this to be very interesting:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - South Korean intelligence agencies have detected signs that North Korea is restoring part of the Dongchang-ri missile launch site it tore down, Yonhap News Agency reported on Tuesday.
Specifically, Yonhap said the closed-off country, under pressure for years to discontinue its nuclear program, is putting back a roof and a door on the facility.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service also said during a briefing for the National Assembly’s intelligence committee that “the U.S. information is the same as ours,” according to Yonhap.
It's not clear if this was discovered before or just after Trump's second meeting with Kim Jong-un, but it does appear at face value that the Trump regime has been holding out on us. This is the very first report I can find that North Korea may be restoring the site they dismantled last year and we're hearing it from South Korean officials.
Trump has repeatedly pointed toward the North's dismantling of the test site as evidence that his approach to negotiations is working so, if South Korean intelligence is correct and if they're rebuilding the site, it could obviously be politically damaging. I suspect that's why we didn't hear about it before Trump's second meeting with Kim Jong-un.
In related news, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says he's sending another delegation on a mission to North Korea where they'll undoubtedly spin their wheels.
“I am hopeful, although I have no commitment yet, that we will be back at it, that I’ll have a team in Pyongyang in the next couple weeks,” Pompeo told the Iowa Farm Bureau.
“I’m continuing to work to find those places where there’s a shared interest,” he said.
I think this is what the next two years are going to look like.