In a first, North Korea has released images of its uranium enrichment facility for the first time, showing leader Kim Jong-un touring a nuclear facility.
North Korea on Friday offered a rare glimpse into a secretive facility to produce weapons-grade uranium as state media reported. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited the site and called for stronger efforts to "exponentially increase" the number of his nuclear weapons. It’s unclear if the site is at the North’s main Yongbyon nuclear complex, but it’s the North’s first disclosure of a uranium-enrichment facility since it showed one at Yongbyon to visiting American scholars in 2010.
A uranium enrichment facility is used to produce highly enriched uranium by placing uranium in centrifuges and spinning it at high speeds. Highly enriched uranium is essential for the manufacture of nuclear warheads.
During a visit to the Nuclear Weapons Institute and the production base of weapon-grade nuclear materials, Kim expressed “great satisfaction repeatedly over the wonderful technical force of the nuclear power field” held by North Korea, the official Korean Central News Agency reported.
Notably, North Korea's nuclear programme is banned under multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions.
: North Korea publicly discloses uranium enrichment facility for first time.
North Korea has released images of its uranium enrichment facility for the first time, showing leader Kim Jong-un touring a nuclear facility. pic.twitter.com/xvMwy3BMVl
According to a report by news agency AP, KCNA said that Kim went around the control room of the uranium enrichment base and a construction site that would expand its capacity for producing nuclear weapons. North Korean state media photos showed Kim being briefed by scientists while walking along long lines of tall gray tubes, but KCNA didn’t say when Kim visited the facilities and where they are located.
North Korea, which conducted its first nuclear test in 2006, has never publicly disclosed details of its uranium enrichment facility.
N. Korea reveals uranium enrichment facility for first time as Kim Jong-un tours site pic.twitter.com/7W30itPxaD
— Arirang News (@arirangtvnews)KCNA said Kim stressed the need to further augment the number of centrifuges to “exponentially increase the nuclear weapons for self-defense,” a goal he has repeatedly stated in recent years. It said Kim ordered officials to push forward the introduction of a new-type centrifuge, which has reached its completion stage.
Notably, North Korea first showed a uranium enrichment site in Yongbyon to the outside world in November 2010, when it allowed a visiting delegation of Stanford University scholars led by nuclear physicist, Siegfried Hecker, to tour its centrifuges. North Korean officials then reportedly told Hecker that 2,000 centrifuges were already installed and running at Yongbyon.
The North Korean photos released on Friday showed about 1,000 centrifuges. When operated year-round, they would be able to produce around 20 to 25 kilograms (44 to 55 pounds) of highly enriched uranium, which would be enough to create a single bomb, according to Yang Uk, a security expert at Seoul’s Asan Institute for Policy Studies, AP reported.