UN agency: No indication NKorea has stopped nuclear activities since Trump deal

The United Nations’s nuclear watchdog on Monday said there is no indication North Korea has stopped its nuclear activities since President Trump announced a denuclearization deal with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in June, Agence France-Presse reported.  

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) published a report on Monday indicating Pyongyang has continued to develop its nuclear capabilities. 

“The continuation and further development of the DPRK’s [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] nuclear program and related statements by [North Korea] are a cause for grave concern,” the IAEA report says, according to AFP. 

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Since North Korea banned the IAEA from observing its nuclear sites on the ground in 2009, the agency said it has been monitoring its nuclear activity through open source information and satellite imagery, according to the report. 

“As the Agency remains unable to carry out verification activities in the DPRK, its knowledge of the DPRK’s nuclear programme is limited and, as further nuclear activities take place in the country, this knowledge is declining,” the report said.

Trump and Kim held a historic summit in Singapore in June. The two leaders signed a joint statement that committed North Korea “to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula” with few specifics. 

Reports have emerged since the summit indicating North Korea has continued to expand some of its missile plants, though Trump has often touted the agreement as proof North Korea is no longer a threat to the U.S.

White House national security adviser John Bolton on Sunday said he wants to see “seriousness” from North Korea on potential denuclearization.