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.
