North Korea has shared images of its uranium enrichment facility for the first time.
The photos show the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, inspecting the area, having previously vowed to increase the country’s nuclear weapons stockpile “exponentially”.
The state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Friday that Kim called for the uranium plant to increase output.
Enriched uranium plays an important role in the production of nuclear warheads.
The publication of the photos comes at a time of rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
“(Kim) toured the control room of the uranium enrichment plant to learn about the general operation of the production lines,” and said he “felt empowered” to see the facility, KCNA reported.
The South Korean government has strongly condemned North Korea’s plans to increase production.
North Korea did not say when Kim made the trip or which facility he visited. It is not known whether it was part of the sprawling Yongbyon nuclear facility or another undisclosed facility.
Experts suspect that North Korea secretly operates at least one uranium enrichment facility alongside the known Yongbyon facility.
North Korea announced the facility to “brag about its nuclear development and signal that its weapons program is irreversible,” according to Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.
“HE MAY WANT TO SHOW THAT HE STILL BENEFITS FROM THE SUPPORT OF RUSSIA AND CHINA”
“The Kim regime may also want to show that despite its nuclear work, it still benefits from diplomatic and economic support from Russia and China,” Easley told the BBC.
Hong Min, a senior expert at the Korea Institute for National Unification, told news agency AFP that the photos could be a “message” for the upcoming US presidential election and were intended to show the next administration that “denuclearisation of North Korea is impossible”.
“A MESSAGE DEMANDING THEM TO ACCEPT IT AS A NUCLEAR STATE”
“This is also a message to other countries demanding that they accept North Korea as a nuclear state,” Hong said.
South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which works towards unification of the two Koreas, condemned North Korea for showing the facility to the public, adding that the illegal deployment of nuclear weapons violated several resolutions set by the UN Security Council.
“Any nuclear threat or provocation by North Korea will be met with an overwhelming and powerful response by our government and military based on the firm and comprehensive deterrence of the South Korea-US alliance,” the Unification Ministry said.
It is unknown how many nuclear weapons North Korea has, but a recent estimate put the number at 50, and the country has enough materials to build 40 more.