North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un visited a “newly inaugrated nuclear materials production factory” with key party officials on Wednesday, according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). KCNA released photos of Kim inspecting what might be a uranium enrichment facility consisting of rows of cylindrical centrifuges.
While the news agency did not disclose the location, analysts suggests it may be a new factory within North Korea’s Yongbyon complex. It is currently believed that North Korea has uranium enrichment facilities at three locations, including Yongbyon, Kusong, and Kangson. There is no clarity on whether there is a fourth location.
Kim has been pushing to expand the country’s nuclear program amid speculations of a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Pyongyang. In his last visit to North Korea in 2019, Xi had told Kim the world wanted him to make progress in nuclear talks with the United States.
U.S President Donald Trump met Kim three times during his first term. However, the talks failed to stop Kim from scaling back his nuclear ambitions.
According to the KCNA, Kim said the country’s “weapons-grade nuclear materials production capacity more than doubled” over the last five years, and he rolled out “action guidelines” for further accelerating the “qualitative and quantitative strengthening of” its nuclear force.
Head of the International Atomic Energy Agency Rafael Grossi cautioned earlier this year that Pyongyang has significantly increased its capacity to produce nuclear weapons, and has intensified activity across key facilities.
Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said, “With Iran’s nuclear ambitions effectively being curtailed, North Korea appears determined to emphasize that it is already a de facto nuclear-armed state.”
North Korea disclosed its uranium enrichment facility for the first time in September 2024, calling for increasing the number of centrifuges for uranium enrichment.
