SINGAPORE: A US military commander suggested Thursday that a loose security grouping of his country, Japan, Australia and India, also known as the quad, may be shelved for now. Admiral Phil Davidson, who heads the US Indo-Pacific Command, said he was on a panel with the other navy chiefs at the Raisina Dialogue, a multilateral conference in New Delhi in January. Davidson said the issue came up “several times” but Indian navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba “made it quite clear that there wasn’t an immediate potential for a quad.” The announcement comes as a blow, especially as the US said on Thursday that it appears a North Korean nuclear testing site is operational once again. On Wednesday, foreign experts and a South Korean lawmaker who was briefed by Seoul’s spy service said North Korea was restoring facilities at a long-range rocket launch site that it dismantled last year as part of disarmament steps. Satellite photos taken on various dates showed new activity at the Tongchang-ri launch site, northwest of Pyongyang. North Korean long-range rocket launch site appears to have resumed “normal operation status” as work to rebuild the launch pad has proceeded rapidly, US experts said Thursday. “Given that construction, plus activity at other areas of the site, Sohae (Satellite Launching Station) appears to have returned to normal operational status,” the specialized website 38 North said. The website and the Center for Strategic and International Studies tracked activity at the site — which began before last week’s aborted summit in Hanoi between US President Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un — using commercial satellite imagery.