Contrary to his promises to pursue complete denuclearization, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's regime is working to conceal portions of its nuclear program from outside inspectors, The Washington Post reported Saturday evening, citing U.S. intelligence agents. There is reportedly evidence Pyongyang is hiding how many nuclear warheads it has developed as well as some fissile material production sites.
This fits with a Friday night report from NBC News, also relying on intelligence community sources, that North Korea has secretly increased nuclear fuel production, perhaps to use as leverage in future negotiations. "There are lots of things that we know that North Korea has tried to hide from us for a long time," an unnamed intelligence official told NBC.
After his June 12 summit with Kim in Singapore, President Trump declared "there is no longer a nuclear threat" from North Korea, but many experts believe Kim will never voluntarily denuclearize because he considers nuclear armament insurance against forcible regime change.
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