INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Kim Jong Un promised to "work toward" denuclearisation at his summit with US President Donald TrumpSeoul: North Korea is carrying out rapid
improvements to its nuclear research facility, a monitor said on Wednesday, despite declaring a commitment to denuclearisation of the
peninsula at the Singapore summit.The nuclear-armed North's leader Kim Jong Un promised to "work toward" the goal at a landmark summit in
the city-state earlier this month with US President Donald Trump.But the Singapore meeting failed to clearly define denuclearisation or
produce a specific timeline towards dismantling the North's atomic weapons arsenal
Trump claimed the process would start quickly, saying last week that "It will be a total denuclearisation, which is already taking
place."But recent satellite imagery showed that not only were operations continuing at present at the North's main Yongbyon nuclear site, it
was also carrying out infrastructure works, said the respected 38 North website."Commercial satellite imagery from June 21 indicates that
improvements to the infrastructure at Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center are continuing at a rapid pace," it said.It noted
"continued operations" at the North's uranium enrichment plant and several new installations at the site -- including an engineering office
and a driveway to a building housing a nuclear reactor.But continued operations at the site "should not be seen as having any relationship
with North Korea's pledge to denuclearise", it added.Nuclear officials could be "expected to proceed with business as usual until specific
orders are issued from Pyongyang", it said.The North last month blew up its aged but only nuclear test site at Punggye-ri -- where it had
staged six atomic tests -- in a show of goodwill before the summit
But Pyongyang has kept its counsel on the denuclearisation issue since the meeting, although state media have dialled down propaganda
against the US, long dubbed the "imperialist enemy."US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has been pushing for more follow-up talks to flesh out
details over denuclearisation but no date has been set for when they would take place.(This story has not been edited by
TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
