North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for an "exponential" expansion of the country's atomic arsenal during a visit to a newly operational nuclear material production factory, state media agency KCNA said.
Kim said production capacity for weapons-grade nuclear material had reached more than double its previous level over the past five years and instructed officials to further increase output to meet long-term strategic goals.
During the visit, he was briefed on new production processes incorporating more advanced technology and reviewed current output targets and future plans, KCNA reported.
State media photographs showed Kim walking through a facility lined with rows of cylinder-shaped equipment. Some analysts suggested the images indicate the site may be located at North Korea’s main nuclear complex in Yongbyon.
Kim said the expansion was necessary given what he called worsening security threats and long-term confrontation with "the most ferocious enemies" and reaffirmed the country’s policy of increasing its nuclear deterrence.
This is a "historic event that has set up an epochal milestone in rapidly upgrading our nuclear capabilities," he added.
The nuclear facility North Korea unveiled on Thursday was a uranium-enrichment site, an official at South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said at a briefing in Seoul.
Analysts said Kim's visit appeared aimed at reinforcing North Korea’s negotiating position ahead of potential diplomatic engagement while justifying an acceleration of its nuclear build-up.
Chad O’Carroll, founder of NK News, said Kim’s visit may be linked to a potential trip by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Pyongyang. He noted that before visiting Beijing in September 2025, Kim reviewed plans for the new Hwasong-20 intercontinental ballistic missile.
"The logic would be to demonstrate absolutely that denuclearisation is not possible, right on the eve of contact with the PRC," O’Carroll said, using China's formal name, the People's Republic of China.
Lim Eul-chul, a professor at South Korea’s Kyungnam University’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies, also linked Kim’s latest visit to Seoul’s pursuit of a nuclear-powered submarine and its talks with Washington over uranium enrichment rights.
North Korea is estimated to possess around 50 nuclear warheads, according to international assessments, though it has never disclosed the size of its arsenal.
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