Fresh signs of life at Yongbyon, the heart of North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme
Satellite images point to upgrades at the site and cooling water discharge from the reactor, analysts say
North Korea appears to be keeping the heart of its nuclear operations ticking over ahead of talks with the United States on ridding the Korean peninsula of nuclear weapons, senior scientists said on Thursday.
The assessment followed the release of satellite images of the Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Centre by 38 North, a North Korea monitoring group.
The images indicate a series of upgrades to the site, North Korea’s main nuclear facility, and are dated June 21 – 56 days after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un met South Korean President Moon Jae-in and nine days after Kim’s summit with US President Donald Trump.
Kim made pledges to “complete denuclearisation” at both meetings. Trump also suggested there would be a series of negotiations after the summit.
According to 38 North, the Yongbyon site, about 100km north of the capital Pyongyang, appears to have a new engineering office, a new small non-industrial building and modifications to the secondary cooling loop of the 5 megawatt electric (5MWe) plutonium reactor.
