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This satellite photograph of the Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Facility in North Korea’s North Hamgyong Province was shared Monday by Beyond Parallel, a US-based news outlet specializing in North Korea issues. The outlet concluded that new activity was taking place at Tunnel No. 4, which is visible at the lower left. (Beyond Parallel website screenshot)

New activity has recently been detected at the Northern Nuclear Test Site located in Punggye-ri, a village in the Kilju county of North Korea’s North Hamgyong Province.

“We see new work being done at Tunnel No. 4,” reported Beyond Parallel, a US media outlet affiliated with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), on Monday.

Based on its analysis of high-resolution satellite images taken near the Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Facility from Sept. 19 to 29, it concluded that the “timing of a seventh nuclear test now remains solely within the hands of [North Korean leader] Kim Jong-un.”

North Korea previously demolished Tunnels No. 2 to 4 in May 2018 at the beginning of the Korean Peninsula peace process. Satellite images recently released by the media, however, confirm that a road has been connected to one of the demolished entrances — strongly suggesting that the destroyed tunnel has been restored.

North Korea abandoned Tunnel No. 1 after conducting its first nuclear test in September 2006 and used Tunnel No. 2 for its second to sixth nuclear tests from 2009 to 2017.

Beyond Parallel added, “There is no new activity at Tunnel No. 3. This is expected because both the United States and South Korea assess North Korea as having finished all preparations for conducting a nuclear test using this tunnel.”

Beyond Parallel also claimed that continued activity had been observed in the main administration and support area. Satellite images revealed three completed buildings and one building under construction.

No activity was detected in Tunnel No. 1, the east entrance, or Tunnel No. 2, the north entrance.

“The detected activity [. . .] could be part of an expansion of North Korea’s nuclear testing capabilities,” Beyond Parallel suggested.

But only so much can be known about North Korea’s “strategic intentions” regarding a seventh nuclear test based solely on these activities. Beyond Parallel also pointed out that the newly revealed movements “could be a component of a strategic deception plan.”

By Cho Hae-yeong, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]