The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) released a report on Tuesday that said satellite photos have uncovered possible uranium reprocessing at North Korea’s Yongbyon reactor. If such activity is indeed underway, it would suggest North Korea is preparing to create more nuclear warheads.
Judging by satellite images of the Yongbyon Nuclear Research Center, North Korea’s primary reactor for creating weapons-grade nuclear material might be up and running. There is clearly activity at the plant, although skeptical analysts say it is difficult to ascertain precisely what the reactor is doing without a ground-level inspection.
A study published Monday by Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) estimated that North Korea produced enough fissile material last year to construct seven more nuclear bombs, even as it was negotiating denuclearization with the United States.
South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha told the Washington Post in remarks published Wednesday that Seoul is seeking to convince the United States and North Korea to exchange the shutdown of Pyongyang’s Yongbyon nuclear research site for a peace treaty to end the Korean War.
A report published by NBC News on Monday found several American officials confirming that evidence exists that North Korea has not begun dismantling its nuclear program, instead continuing to illegally subsidize the development of nuclear weapons.
Satellite photos published on Monday appear to show North Korea revamping a facility outside of Pyongyang used to build intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), the Washington Post reported.
An analysis of satellite imagery by watchdog group 38 North published on Tuesday concluded that “improvements to the infrastructure at North Korea’s Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center are continuing at a rapid pace,” even as North Korea ostensibly negotiates a denuclearization agreement.
According to a “diplomatic source” quoted by South Korean media, the United States knows where one of North Korea’s two uranium enrichment facilities is located and expects dictator Kim Jong-un to reveal the existence of both facilities to the world and invite international inspections.
Satellites have detected increased activity at North Korea’s Yongbyon nuclear test site, possibly indicating that one or two new nuclear reactors are close to coming online. If these findings are verified, the reactors could prove capable of creating weapons-grade nuclear material.
South Korea scrambled fighter jets on Monday in response to a provocative Chinese aircraft exercise over the Sea of Japan. At two points during the exercise, the Chinese planes – including two fighters, two bombers, and a recon plane – penetrated South Korea’s air defense identification zone.
A new report on the status of North Korea’s Yongbyon nuclear facility indicates that Pyongyang has restarted its plutonium reactor, possibly to generate enough fuel for a nuclear bomb. North Korea has executed five nuclear tests, which have all received condemnation from the international community.
Even as China announced a new round of sanctions against its unruly client, North Korea, due to its nuclear and ballistic-missile programs, international monitors have noted “suspicious activity” at the Yongbyong nuclear site. Also, South Korea complains that the North has been jamming its GPS navigation systems in a bid to raise tensions on the Korean peninsula even further.
The annual threat assessment from Director of National Security James Clapper included some grim news about North Korea, which is evidently restarting its plutonium production reactor at Yongbyon, and has developed missile technology that can reach any part of the continental United States.
North Korea does not like to be ignored for too long. The latest bid for attention from the nightmarish regime of Kim Jong-Un is the claim that his scientists have developed a hydrogen bomb, which would be a dramatic upgrade from the crude atomic weapons they have so far created.
“North Korea said it restarted its main plant for producing nuclear bombs, backing experts’ assessments that satellite imagery shows the facility to have been at least partly active for about two years,” reports The Wall Street Journal.
After reviewing satellite images of North Korea, analysts believe the nuclear reactor at Yongbyon may have been reactivated, along with a uranium centrifuge facility.
