U.S.-based North Korea monitoring website 38 North has downplayed claims the regime's Punggye-ri nuclear test site is probably unusable,... saying there's no reason to believe it's no longer viable... and the site, in fact, is still fully operational.
It's true that the North Portal was abandoned after Pyongyang's sixth nuclear test last September.
But 38 North says... new tunneling continued at the West Portal through early April... which could mean that the tunnel is ready for new tests... or operations have stopped due to the regime's thawing relations with South Korea and the U.S.
38 North added that the South Portal remains suitable for future nuclear tests.