September 13th 2024.
The reclusive country of North Korea has given the outside world a rare glimpse into one of their secretive facilities used to produce weapons-grade uranium. This was announced by state media on Friday, revealing that their leader, Kim Jong Un, had visited the site and called for stronger efforts to significantly increase their nuclear weapons capabilities.
Although it is unclear if this facility is located at the main Yongbyon nuclear complex, it is the first time since 2010 that North Korea has publicly disclosed a uranium enrichment site. Back then, they showed one to a group of American scholars who were visiting. This recent unveiling is likely an attempt to put more pressure on the United States and its allies.
The images released by North Korean media of the facility can provide valuable information to outsiders about the amount of nuclear materials that the country has produced. This is especially significant as tensions between North Korea and the US continue to rise.
During his visit to the Nuclear Weapons Institute and the production base of weapon-grade nuclear materials, Kim expressed great satisfaction with the technical force of the nuclear power field held by North Korea. This was reported by the official Korean Central News Agency.
The media also reported that Kim went around the control room and a construction site at the uranium enrichment base, which is being expanded to increase its capacity for producing nuclear weapons. Photos released by North Korean state media showed Kim being briefed by scientists while walking along long lines of tall grey tubes. However, the specific date of Kim's visit and the location of the facilities were not disclosed.
Kim emphasized the need to further augment the number of centrifuges to exponentially increase the number of nuclear weapons for self-defense. This has been a goal that he has repeatedly stated in recent years. He also ordered officials to push forward the introduction of a new type of centrifuge that is currently in its completion stage.
According to KCNA, Kim stated that North Korea needs greater defense and preemptive attack capabilities due to the anti-nuclear threats perpetrated by the US and its allies becoming more undisguised and crossing the red line. This was in reference to the ongoing tension between North Korea and the US.
The first time North Korea showed a uranium enrichment site to the outside world was in 2010, when a delegation of Stanford University scholars led by nuclear physicist Siegfried Hecker were allowed to tour their centrifuges. North Korean officials reportedly told Hecker that 2,000 centrifuges were already installed and running at Yongbyon.
Satellite images in recent years have indicated that North Korea has been expanding a uranium enrichment plant at its Yongbyon nuclear complex. It is well known that nuclear weapons can be built using either highly enriched uranium or plutonium, and North Korea has facilities to produce both at Yongbyon.
However, it is not clear exactly how much weapons-grade plutonium or highly enriched uranium has been produced at Yongbyon and where North Korea stores it. Ankit Panda, an expert with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, stated that the images released by North Korea will provide valuable information for analysts outside the country to better understand their nuclear capabilities.
Panda also warned that we should not assume that North Korea will be as limited by fissile material as they once were. He specifically pointed out that this is especially true for highly enriched uranium, where North Korea is significantly less constrained in its ability to scale up compared to plutonium.
In 2018, Hecker and Stanford University scholars estimated that North Korea's highly enriched uranium inventory was between 250 to 500 kilograms, enough for 25 to 30 nuclear devices. Some experts from the US and South Korea believe that North Korea may have more than one uranium-enrichment plant, and that they may have already manufactured up to 60 nuclear weapons.
The estimates on how many nuclear bombs North Korea can add to their arsenal every year vary, with some saying between six to 18. Since 2022, North Korea has significantly increased their weapons testing activities in order to expand and modernize their nuclear missiles that can target the US and South Korea.
Analysts believe that North Korea may perform nuclear test explosions or long-range missile tests before the US presidential election in November, in an attempt to influence the outcome and gain more leverage in future dealings with the US. In fact, North Korea conducted test launches of multiple short-range ballistic missiles just the day before. KCNA reported that Kim had supervised the test-firing of nuclear-capable 600mm multiple rockets to examine the performance of their new launch vehicles.
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