Kim Jong Un unveils new plant, vows ‘exponential’ expansion of nuclear weapons
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North Korea leader Kim Jong Un Photograph: (AFP)
Kim stressed that the expansion was necessary in the context of "US-led military threats" and a long-term confrontation with the “most ferocious enemies”, an apparent reference to the United States and South Korea.
Amid North Korean leader Kim Jong Un announcing plans of increasing his country's nuclear arsenal "at an exponential rate", Pyongyang on Thursday (June 4) unveiled a new facility to produce nuclear bomb fuels. During a visit to the facility, Kim said that his country has doubled the production capacity for weapons-grade nuclear material compared to what it was five years ago.
Kim during his visit said that he has “confirmed the order of priority for implementing the ambitious future plan designed to beef up our state’s nuclear forces at an exponential rate,” reported the state Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
He stressed that the expansion was necessary in the context of "US-led military threats" and a long-term confrontation with the “most ferocious enemies”, an apparent reference to the United States and South Korea. Kim reiterated his government’s commitment to increase its nuclear deterrence.
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Not much detail was shared about the facility but KCNA said the facility used “more sophisticated technology”.
In pictures shared by the news agency, Kim can be seen walking through narrow aisles lined with dense rows of silver tubes and pipes that seems to be a centrifuge hall. Another image showed him discussing with his senior officials in a meeting room.
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Pyongyang's nuclear arsenal
This is the third time that Pyongyang unveiled an uranium-enrichment plant. In 2010, for the first time North Korea had shown its main Yongbyon nuclear complex to visiting American scholars, while the second pone was revealed to the world in September 2024.
According to Ankit Panda, an expert with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace the "facility is likely the newly added Yongbyon enrichment facility. It appears to have two levels and represents a substantial expansion of enrichment capability,” reported Associated Press.
