- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspected a new plant producing weapons-grade nuclear material
- Kim stated North Korea doubled its nuclear material production capacity in the past five years
- The new facility aims to strengthen the country's nuclear deterrent and future strategic goals
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un went on an inspection of a new plant that makes weapons-grade nuclear material this week. There, the state-run media reported that Kim said that Pyongyang was planning to "beef up our state's nuclear forces at an exponential rate". The developments came even as the United States and Iran remain in active negotiations over the fate of Tehran's highly enriched uranium stockpile following intense military conflict earlier in the year.
According to the North Korean leader, his country has more than doubled its capacity to produce weapons-grade nuclear material in the past five years, and the new plant will help strengthen its nuclear war deterrent, according to a report by the state media agency Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
He also instructed officials to further increase output to meet long-term strategic goals.
Photographs published by state media showed Kim walking between rows of cylinder-shaped equipment inside the facility, which some analysts said could indicate the location is at the country's main nuclear complex in Yongbyon. KCNA reported that during the visit, he was briefed on new production processes incorporating more advanced technology and reviewed current output targets and future plans.
KCNA reported that a key consultative meeting on bolstering nuclear forces was also held the same day, at which Kim outlined guidelines for accelerating both the qualitative and quantitative expansion of North Korea's nuclear arsenal.
The country has set out the sequence and safeguards for executing an "ambitious future plan designed to beef up our state's nuclear forces at an exponential rate," KCNA quoted Kim as saying.
This is a "historic event that has set up an epochal milestone in rapidly upgrading our nuclear capabilities," he added.
North Korea's Plans For Nuclear Force
Kim reportedly 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.
Kim's remarks and the new nuclear fuel plant are both in line with the North Korean leader's plan to arm Pyongyang with an expansive nuclear force to counter the US and South Korea. In March, after the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran, citing Tehran's nuclear ambitions as an aggressor, Kim accused Washington of "global terrorism".
Experts point out that the conflict in the Middle East reinforced Pyongyang's long-standing view that it needs a nuclear arsenal to be able to defend itself against what it sees as its two largest enemies, South Korea and the US.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly tried to resume diplomacy with Kim, but the North Korean leader responded that the Americans must first drop their demand for North Korea to denuclearise as a precondition for talks. After his first round of nuclear diplomacy collapsed in 2019, Kim has performed a provocative run of weapons tests and vowed repeatedly to “exponentially” expand the country's nuclear arsenal.
Over the years, Pyongyang has been subjected to various international sanctions for its nuclear weapons development and use of ballistic missile technology, but the country has repeatedly flouted the restrictions.
This led to many experts believing North Korea now likely has nuclear missiles capable of striking the US mainland. But some still note North Korea hasn't proved it has mastered the last remaining technological hurdles to obtain such missiles, including ensuring its warheads survive the conditions of atmospheric reentry. They say North Korea also needs to perfect technologies to place multiple nuclear warheads on a single missile to defeat US missile shields.
The country is estimated to possess around 50 nuclear warheads, according to international assessments, though it has never disclosed the size of its arsenal. But, in April, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed "a rapid increase" in activities at nuclear facilities in North Korea. But the country hasn't carried out a test, which would have been its seventh detonation overall and the first since September 2017.
With inputs from Reuters and AP.
