U.S. has plan to dismantle North Korea nuclear program within a year

White House nationalsecurity adviser John Bolton has said he believesthe bulkof North Korea's weapons programs could be dismantled within ayear, as the United States and North Korea resumed working-leveltalks.

Bolton told CBS's Face the Nation on Sunday that Washington hasdevised a program to dismantle North Korea's weapons of massdestruction chemical, biological and nuclear and ballisticmissile programs in a year, if there is full co-operation anddisclosure from Pyongyang.

"If they have the strategic decision already made to do thatand they're co-operative, we can move very quickly," he said."Physically we would be able to dismantle the overwhelming bulkof their programs within a year."

He said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will likely discussthat proposal with the North Koreans soon. The Financial Timesreported that Pompeo was due to visit North Korea this week butthe U.S. State Department has not confirmed any travel plans.

Planning for Pompeovisit

South Korea media reported on Sunday that Sung Kim, the U.S.ambassador to the Philippines, met with North Korean officialson Sunday at the border village of Panmunjom, within thedemilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, to co-ordinate anagenda for Pompeo's next visit to North Korea.

It would be physically possible to dismantle the bulk ofNorth Korea's programs within a year.- Arms control expert Thomas Countryman

Kim's delegation delivered Pompeo's letter to Kim Yong-chol,a top Pyongyang official who met Pompeo and U.S. PresidentDonald Trump ahead of last month's historic summit between Trumpand North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore, Yonhap newsagency said, citing an unnamed diplomatic source.

Some experts disputed Bolton's optimistic time frame fordecommissioning the North's weapons.

"It would be physically possible to dismantle the bulk ofNorth Korea's programs within a year," said Thomas Countryman,the State Department's top arms control officer under former presidentBarack Obama.

"I do not believe it would be possible to verify fulldismantlement within a year, nor have I yet seen evidence of afirm DPRK decision to undertake full dismantlement."

Expandedmissile production?

North Korea is completing a major expansion of a keymissile-manufacturing plant, the Wall Street Journal reported onSunday, citing researchers who have examined new satelliteimagery from San Francisco-based Planet Labs Inc.

Images analyzed by the Middlebury Institute of InternationalStudies at Monterey, California show North Korea was finishingconstruction on the exterior of the plant around the time Kim Jong-un held a summit with Trump last month, the report said.

The Chemical Material Institute in Hamhung makes solid-fuelballistic missiles, which could allow North Korean to transportand launch a missile more quickly, compared to a liquid-fuelsystem that requires lengthy preparation.

Last week, 38 North, a website run by the Johns HopkinsUniversity, said satellite imagery showed the North had beenupgrading its Yongbyon nuclear complex.

"None of this activity technically violates any agreementKim may have made," said Vipin Narang, an associate professor atMIT's security studies program.

"What it suggests is that Kim has no intention ofsurrendering his nuclear weapons."

Kim agreed at the June 12 summit to "work towarddenuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," but the jointstatement released after the meeting gave no details on how orwhen Pyongyang might forsake its nuclear and missile programs.

As negotiations progress, the North could try to trade sitesand technology that have relatively low values in exchange forsanctions relief, while covertly operating facilities requiredto advance key capabilities, Narang said.

"It is perfectly rational for North Korea to shift theemphasis to developing solid-fuel missiles now that it alreadyhas a suite of liquid-fuel missiles to deter an attack," hesaid.

Prediction of 10-year plan

Siegfried Hecker, a nuclear scientist and StanfordUniversity professor, has predicted it would take around 10years to dismantle and clean up a substantial part of NorthKorea's Yongbyon nuclear site.

U.S. intelligence is not certain how many nuclear warheadsNorth Korea has. The Defense Intelligence Agency is at the highend, with an estimate of about 50.But all the agencies believePyongyang is concealing an unknown number, especially smallertactical ones, in caves and other underground facilities aroundthe country.

The U.S. intelligence agencies believe North Korea hasincreased production of fuel for nuclear weapons at multiplesecret sites in recent months and may try to hide these whileseeking concessions in nuclear talks with the United States, NBCNews quoted U.S. officials as saying on Friday.

The Washington Post reported Saturday that U.S.intelligence officials have concluded that North Korea does notintend to fully give up its nuclear arsenal and is consideringways to hide the number of weapons it has. It also reportedPyongyang has secret production facilities, according to thelatest evidence they have.

Bolton refused to comment on intelligence matters but theUnited States was going into nuclear negotiations aware ofPyongyang's failure to live up to its promises in the past.

"There's not any starry-eyed feeling among the group doingthis," he said. "We're well aware of what the North Koreans havedone in the past."