Institute: NKorea resumes work at old launch site

(AP) Institute: NKorea resumes work at old launch site
WASHINGTON
A U.S. research institute has detected new construction at a North Korean missile launch site which the institute says is being upgraded to handle larger rockets.

Commercial satellite imagery shows work has resumed after a monthslong hiatus on what looks like a missile assembly building and launch control center at Tonghae (TONG’-hay), on the country’s northeast coast.

The findings are being published Friday on 38 North, the website of the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

It’s the latest sign that North Korea is pursuing its nuclear and missile programs.

Overhead photos have also indicated North Korea restarted a plutonium reactor in late August and is working to upgrade its other main missile launch site.

But 38 North says a rocket test doesn’t appear imminent.