Work by North Korea to dismantle a key testing facility for its missile engines and rocket launches could pave the way toward more intensive talks on a peace regime between Pyongyang and Washington, experts said after a new analysis of satellite imagery showed disassembly was underway.
Photos taken from Friday to Sunday indicated that the North had started to disassemble portions of its Sohae Satellite Launching Station, the country's main satellite launch facility since 2012, according to the analysis by 38 North, a prominent North Korea monitoring group.
Most notably, it said, the dismantlement was proceeding at a rail-mounted processing building — where space launch vehicles are assembled before being moved to a launchpad — as well as at a nearby rocket engine test stand used to develop liquid-fuel engines for ballistic missiles and space launch vehicles.