S Korea, US working closely amid reports of N Korea restoration of rocket launch site

The presidential office Cheong Wa Dae or the Blue House on Monday stated that the national security councils of South Korea and the United States are in close communication amid reports of North Korea's restoration of a rocket launch site.

Yonhap reported that the statement came in response to reporters' questions about whether South Korean National Security Advisor Chung Eui-yong is planning to hold phone talks with his US counterpart John Bolton.

In an interview with ABC, US NSA Bolton said that he will be talking with his South Korean counterpart Monday morning. He further divulged that the two officials might discuss satellite images showing rebuilding activity at the North Korea's missile launch site.

Chung may have telephonic conservation with Bolton on Monday afternoon.

Several reports surfaced by Seoul's spy agency and two US think tanks speculating that restoration work at the Pyongyang's long-range missile launch site in Dongchang-ri.

The speculations about the North's possible preparation to launch a missile or a satellite-carrying rocket have also been reported by the US media wherein they stated that there has been an increase in the activity at the missile assembly facility in Sanum-dong.

In the interview, Bolton had also said that Washington is watching North Korean activities "unblinkingly."

Last week, South Korea's chief nuclear envoy Lee Do-hoon had travelled to Washington to hold discussions pertaining to North Korea, including efforts being made towards denuclearising the Korean peninsula.

US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un held their second summit last month in Hanoi, Vietnam. The summit ended abruptly as the two leaders failed to reach an agreement.