Mysterious North Korea site may be building nuclear bomb parts, report says
- Satellite imagery shows a facility previously suspected of enriching uranium could now be making components for centrifuges
- International Atomic Energy Agency says there are ‘indications’ that the site has a role in North Korea’s nuclear programme.
The nondescript cluster of buildings called Kangson on the southwest outskirts of Pyongyang was first publicly identified in 2018 by a team of open-source analysts as the possible location of a facility for secretly enriching uranium, a fuel for nuclear bombs.
But the report by North Korea watchers at the 38 North programme says satellite imagery points to the facility making components for centrifuges, the hi-tech spinners used to enrich uranium, rather than enriching the fuel itself.
“The characteristics of the site are more consistent with a plant that could manufacture components for centrifuges,” former International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) official Olli Heinonen said in the report.
The imagery suggests the site lacks the infrastructure needed for enrichment, said Heinonen, a distinguished fellow with the Stimson Centre, the Washington think tank that runs 38 North.
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“If the issue of undeclared facilities is going to be a factor in US-North Korea negotiations, as it was in Hanoi, the more we can learn about these suspected facilities, the better we can assess their role and value to North Korea’s overall nuclear weapons development,” said Jenny Town, deputy director of 38 North.