Kim Jong Un inspected a new plant that makes weapons-grade nuclear material on Wednesday and said Pyongyang plans to “beef up our state’s nuclear forces at an exponential rate,” according to a report from state-run media.
The North Korean leader said that his country has more than doubled its capacity to produce weapons-grade nuclear material in the past five years and that the new plant will help strengthen its nuclear war deterrent, according to the report from the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
Kim instituted the push for more nuclear weapons under a five-year plan that was implemented after denuclearization talks with the United States, including three meetings with US President Donald Trump during his first term, ended in failure.
News of the new North Korean nuclear plant comes as Washington is trying to strike a deal to end the months-old US-Israeli war with Iran and get Tehran to give up nuclear materials that it could develop into nuclear weapons.
North Korea already has enough nuclear material for up to 90 warheads and is believed to have assembled around 50, according to a Congressional Research Service report from March.
The International Atomic Energy Agency reported in March that North Korea has at least two active nuclear enrichment plants, one in Yongbyon and another in Kangson.
The agency said it was monitoring the construction of a new building at Yongbyon “which has dimensions and infrastructure, including power supply and cooling capacity, similar to the Kangson enrichment facility.”
In April testimony to the US House Armed Services Committee, the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Lt. Gen. James Adams, said Pyongyang was “building a probable additional uranium enrichment facility at Yongbyon.”
Credit: cnn.com
