SEOUL, Sept 13 (Askume) – North Korea on Friday showed for the first time images of centrifuges that make fuel for its nuclear bombs, as leader Kim Jong Un toured a uranium enrichment facility and sought more weapons-grade material to boost its arsenal.
The first images of the centrifuges were released along with state media reports of Kim’s visit to a nuclear weapons institute and a production centre for weapons-grade nuclear materials, offering a rare peek inside North Korea’s nuclear programme, which is banned under multiple UN Security Council resolutions.
The photos showed Kim walking among long rows of metal centrifuges, machines that enrich uranium. The report did not specify when the visit took place, nor where the facility was located.
Kim urged workers to produce more materials for tactical nuclear weapons, saying the country’s nuclear arsenal is vital to counter threats from the United States and its allies.
He said these weapons are necessary for “self-defense and pre-emptive strike capability.”
According to the report, the North Korean leader said that the “anti-DPRK nuclear threat” from “vassal forces led by US imperialists” has crossed the red line.
North Korea is believed to have multiple sites for uranium enrichment. Analysts say commercial satellite images show construction has been underway in recent years at the main Yongbyon nuclear scientific research center, which includes a uranium enrichment plant, indicating a possible expansion.
Uranium is a radioactive element that occurs naturally. To make nuclear fuel, raw uranium is subjected to processes that result in material with increased concentrations of the isotope uranium-235.
International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi said on Monday that the UN nuclear watchdog had observed activity consistent with the operation of a reactor and a purported centrifuge enrichment facility at Yongbyon.
Kim stressed the need to increase the number of centrifuges to “rapidly increase” nuclear weapons production and to expand the use of new types of centrifuges to further strengthen the production of weapons-grade nuclear materials.
Ankit Panda of the US-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said the new type of centrifuge shows that North Korea is advancing its fuel cycle capabilities.
“Kim also suggested that North Korea’s tactical nuclear weapons design could be primarily based on uranium,” he said.
This is notable, Panda said, because North Korea is more capable of increasing its stockpile of highly enriched uranium than the more complex process for plutonium.
North Korea invited some foreign scientists to view the centrifuge facility at Yongbyon in 2010, but Jenny Towne of the U.S.-based Stimson Center said Friday’s report was the first and only photo of the device.
“This shows how advanced their enrichment capabilities have become, which gives greater credibility to both their ability and commitment to increase their nuclear weapons stockpile,” he said.
North Korea has shown pictures of nuclear bombs before. It conducted six underground nuclear tests between 2006 and 2017.
Estimates of the number of North Korea’s nuclear weapons vary widely. A report by the Federation of American Scientists in July concluded that the country may have produced enough fissile material to make 90 nuclear weapons, but that it has probably built closer to 50.
According to separate KCNA reports, Kim also oversaw the test launch of a new 600 mm multiple launch rocket system on Thursday and visited an army training base on Wednesday.
In a statement released by KCNA, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry spokesman criticized the recent defense ministerial meeting between member countries of the US-led United Nations Command in Seoul, calling it a “war organization.”
Germany joined the command last month, becoming the 18th country in the group that helps police the heavily guarded border with North Korea and is committed to defending South Korea in case of war.
