North Korea has built a new uranium enrichment facility at its Yongbyon nuclear complex in the northwest of the country and begun operating an expanded site at Kangson, near the capital Pyongyang, the United Nation’s nuclear watchdog has said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a report dated 28 August that a newly identified two-storey building at Yongbyon appears to be the complex's second uranium enrichment facility.
Investigators reached the conclusion by comparing state media images from a June visit by leader Kim Jong Un with satellite photographs taken while the building was under construction.
Images from the visit show gas centrifuge cascades, which are used to produce enriched uranium, installed across both floors of the building. The agency estimates the complex could hold up to 28 cascades of the type pictured.
A separate enrichment facility at Kangson appears to have become operational in January, according to the same report. Imagery showed the site sitting within an annex completed in 2024.
The IAEA said it has had to rely on satellite imagery and open-source material, including photos released by North Korean state media, to monitor the country's nuclear activities, because international inspectors have been barred from North Korea since 2009.
The agency said the latest findings breach UN Security Council resolutions barring the country from developing nuclear weapons.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi told the agency's board of governors on Monday in Vienna that the continued operation of the two enrichment sites, along with what he called further growth in the North's output of weapons-grade material, was “a cause for serious concern.”
North Korea has consistently dismissed the IAEA's oversight. Its mission to the UN in Vienna said last September that its status as a nuclear weapons state was now irreversible, and rejected the agency's authority to scrutinise its programme.
North Korea withdrew from the Non-Proliferation Treaty in 2003 and has carried out six nuclear tests since 2006, the most recent in 2017.
Estimates of the size of its arsenal differ. South Korean Defence Minister Ahn Gyu-back told lawmakers in August that North Korea was generally believed to have around 80 to 120 warheads, although he cautioned it was difficult to determine an exact figure.
U.S. President Donald Trump said in the same month that he believed Pyongyang possessed 57 nuclear weapons in remarks to reporters at the White House.
Satellite imagery has also shown activity at North Korea’s Punggye-ri underground nuclear test site, fuelling concern among Western officials that Pyongyang could be preparing to carry out its seventh nuclear test.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) said on Wednesday they attacked two U.S. vessels and eight oil tankers in the Persian Gulf, calling the st...
Four people were killed, including a child, in Ukrainian strikes on the Russian port city of Novorossiysk overn...
North Korea has built a new uranium enrichment facility at its Yongbyon nuclear complex in the northwest of the country and begun operating an expa...
Four people were killed, including a child, in Ukrainian strikes on the Russian port city of Novorossiysk overnight, according to the governor of the Krasnodar region. Ukraine's drone forces commander, Robert Brovdi, said Russian military ships were destroyed in the attacks.
A TV channel was struck during a live broadcast on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, as Russian strikes on Kyiv killed at least three people, the city's Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Meanwhile, drones hit civilian infrastructure in Russia's southwestern Saratov region.
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said its forces destroyed five Iranian crude oil carriers after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) allegedly launched two ballistic missile attacks against a U.S. Navy warship over the past two days.
U.S. special envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff have held talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Sunday on efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Indonesia has reopened Jakarta's main airport and four others after volcanic ash from Mount Anak Krakatau forced widespread flight cancellations, though fresh eruptions have kept authorities on alert.
Four people were killed, including a child, in Ukrainian strikes on the Russian port city of Novorossiysk overnight, according to the governor of the Krasnodar region. Ukraine's drone forces commander, Robert Brovdi, said Russian military ships were destroyed in the attacks.
Israel has ordered the closure of the British consulate in East Jerusalem and banned 12 British nationals from entering the country, escalating a diplomatic row with London over Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
Start your day informed with the AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top stories for the 9th of September, covering the latest developments.
The United States has announced a ban on a range of Canadian products, including alcoholic beverages, dairy goods and motorcycles, as retaliatory Canadian tariffs on U.S. imports take effect.
Wildfires have broken out in Türkiye’s Antalya province, forcing hundreds of people to evacuate as strong winds fuelled the flames.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment