North Korea appears to be quietly setting up its biggest known boost to nuclear fuel production in years. A new uranium-enrichment facility in Yongbyon could raise the country's enrichment capacity by about 75% once fully operational, according to a fresh analysis by Vertic, a London-based arms-control research group, reports the Wall Street Journal. The site is thought to house upward of 9,000 centrifuges, enough to turn out roughly 160 kilograms of highly enriched uranium annually, on top of existing capacity of about 215 kilograms. One Vertic analyst says Pyongyang "probably has all the material they'd need for a medium-sized nuclear arsenal already" and now appears to be "running up the numbers."
Vertic estimates North Korea's stockpile of highly enriched uranium at roughly 2,100 kilograms—about a tenth of what France or the UK hold. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute now pegs the country's arsenal at around 60 warheads, with material for dozens more. Kim Jong Un last week inspected the new plant, praising scientists for more than doubling the nation's capacity to produce weapons-grade nukes material, vowing even "larger plans" down the road.
"North Korea's ongoing nuclear expansion does not have a near-term end in sight," Ankit Panda, of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said last week when the new plant was first revealed, per the AP. The build-out, including other activity at Yongbyon, suggests Pyongyang is moving further from any deal trading nuclear limits for sanctions relief, while Beijing has lately eased off its public calls for denuclearization, notes the Journal. Over the weekend, Kim Yo Jong, the North Korean leader's sister, called the US' continued push for de-nuking her country an "anachronistic dream," per the Latin Times.
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