North Korea gives rare view of banned uranium enrichment site
Leader Kim Jong-un stressed the need to boost the number of centrifuges so as to ‘exponentially increase’ nuclear weapons
The state media report on Kim’s visit to the Nuclear Weapons Institute and a production base for weapon-grade nuclear materials was accompanied by the first photos of the centrifuges, providing a rare look inside North Korea’s nuclear programme, which is banned under multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions.
The photos showed Kim walking between long rows of metal centrifuges, the machines that enrich uranium. The report did not make clear when the visit occurred nor the facility’s location.
Kim urged workers to produce more materials for tactical nuclear weapons, saying the country’s nuclear arsenal is vital for confronting threats from the United States and its allies.
The weapons are needed for “self-defence and the capability for a pre-emptive attack”, he said.
The North Korean leader said “anti-DPRK nuclear threats” from the “US imperialists-led vassal forces” have crossed the red line, according to the report.
North Korea is believed to have several sites for enriching uranium. Analysts say commercial satellite imagery has shown construction in recent years at the main Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Centre, including its uranium enrichment plant, suggesting possible expansion.
Uranium is a radioactive element that exists naturally. To make nuclear fuel, raw uranium undergoes processes that result in a material with an increased concentration of the isotope uranium-235.
