[ad_1]
Images captured by commercial imaging company Maxar earlier this week show construction is underway at a uranium enrichment plant located within the Yongbyon Nuclear Research Facility complex โ changes that could allow North Korea to increase production of weapons-grade nuclear material by as much as 25 percent, Jeffrey Lewis, a weapons expert and professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, told CNN.
โThe most recent expansion at Yongbyon probably reflects plans to increase production of nuclear materials for weapons production,โ he added, noting the ongoing construction is consistent with previous efforts to add floorspace at the facility, allowing it to house more centrifuges and thus, enrich more uranium on a yearly basis.
โThe new area is approximately 1,000 square meters, enough space to house 1,000 additional centrifuges. The addition of 1,000 new centrifuges would increase the plantโs capacity to produce highly enriched uranium by 25 percent,โ Lewis said.
If North Korea were to upgrade the type of centrifuges currently in use at this plant, it โcould increase the capacity of the plant substantially,โ he told CNN.
US officials are aware of the recent activity at Yongbyonโs uranium enrichment plant and acknowledge those developments could signal plans to increase production of weapons-grade uranium, according to two sources familiar with the situation.
The National Security Council, Department of Defense, Office of the Director of National Intelligence and CIA all declined to comment.
Together, the activity has resulted in an exponential increase of tensions in what was already one of the most volatile regions on the planet.
State Department spokesperson Ned Price condemned North Koreaโs missile launches Wednesday and again called for a diplomatic approach to the issue.
โWe have been very clear about what we want to see happen. We are committed to the principle that dialogue will allow us to pursue our ultimate objective and thatโs quite simply the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula,โ Price said.
More concerns about activity at once-dormant facility
The report said these were the first indications of activity at the reactor since December 2018, calling North Koreaโs nuclear activities โa cause for serious concernโ and the new developments โdeeply troubling.โ
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un purportedly offered to dismantle the Yongbyon complex in exchange for sanctions relief during negotiations with former US President Donald Trump in Hanoi in 2019. However, those talks collapsed in part because neither side was willing to budge. Trumpโs team wanted either ballistic missile or other nuclear sites included in the deal, and Kim refused to accept a trade of Yongbyon for less sanctions relief, Trumpโs former national security adviser, John Bolton, wrote in his memoir.
While the site appeared to remain dormant until recently, US officials have broadly anticipated activity could resume.
US intelligence officials have said publicly they expect North Korea will remain a โWeapons of Mass Destruction threatโ for the foreseeable future as Kim remains โstrongly committedโ to the countryโs nuclear weapons.
Kim, himself, made clear in January that developing lighter, smaller nuclear weapons for tactical uses and pushing forward with production of โsuper-sized nuclear warheadsโ are two of North Koreaโs top priorities.
โAchieving these goals will probably require North Korea to increase the amount of weapons-grade plutonium and uranium available for weapons production,โ Lewis said.
Intelligence agencies have also assessed that Kim โmay take a number of aggressive and potentially destabilizing actions to reshape the regional security environment and drive wedges between the United States and its alliesโup to and including the resumption of nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) testing,โ according to the intelligence communityโs annual threat assessment released earlier this year.
Recent activity at Yongbyon and a spate of missile tests by North Korea appear to validate both predictions โ reviving concerns about the state of the countryโs nuclear weapons program.
โThe continuation of the DPRKโs nuclear program is a clear violation of relevant UN Security Council resolutions and is deeply regrettable,โ the IAEA report said, referring to North Korea by its official acronym, The Democratic Peopleโs Republic of Korea (DPRK).
A senior administration official told CNN late last month that the US is aware of the new report and โclosely coordinating with our allies and partners on developments regarding the DPRK.โ
The senior official added, โThis report underscores the urgent need for dialogue and diplomacy so we can achieve the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. We continue to seek dialogue with the DPRK so we can address this reported activity and the full range of issues related to denuclearization.โ
Renewed criticism of Bidenโs North Korea approach
Recent actions by North Korea are also prompting fresh criticism of the Biden administrationโs policy towards Pyongyang from Republicans in Congress.
โGiven the Biden-Harris administrationโs pitiful track record โ itโs no surprise that Kim Jong Un now wants his pay-day from President Biden. Thatโs why he feels emboldened to resume testing missiles and restarted the Yongbyon nuclear reactor,โ Rep. Mike Rogers, top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, said in a statement this week.
โWe need to respond by strengthening alliances in the region, enforcing the sanctions regime, and increasing our investment in missile defense,โ he added.
Relations between the two longtime adversaries have been frosty since, and both Washington and Pyongyang have been focused on containing the threat of Covid-19 since the pandemic swept the globe in early 2020. North Koreaโs borders have been sealed to keep the virus at bay, despite the knock-on effects on trade with China, an economic lifeline for the impoverished country. Kimโs regime is now reportedly dealing with a food crisis.
President Bidenโs administration has made several attempts to reach out to North Korea by email to start discussions with Washington, a senior South Korean official with direct knowledge of the situation told CNN.
North Korea has acknowledged receipt of the emails, the official said, but did not feel compelled to respond due to what is seen as a lack of a detailed agenda or any serious indication the US is willing to move the conversation forward from what was agreed upon at Trump and Kimโs first summit Singapore in June 2018.
CNNโs Joshua Berlinger, Oren Lieberman and Jennifer Hansler contributed reporting
[ad_2]
Source