From the Guardian · · 1m 30s
North Korea's new uranium plant at Yongbyon
UN inspectors, locked out since 2009, found a second enrichment hall at Yongbyon by matching satellite images to Kim Jong-un's own state TV tour.
In brief
UN inspectors, locked out since 2009, found a second enrichment hall at Yongbyon by matching satellite images to Kim Jong-un's own state TV tour. North Korea is scaling bomb-fuel production in plain sight, and the outside world is now measuring it from orbit rather than from inside the fence. Originally reported by…
A new building at Yongbyon
The IAEA reported this week that North Korea has finished a facility at its main Yongbyon site built to enrich weapons-grade uranium. It can hold up to 28 centrifuge cascades.
Found without inspectors
IAEA staff were thrown out of the country in 2009. Analysts identified the building by comparing construction-era satellite images with state media photos of Kim Jong-un's visit in June.
Kangson is growing too
The same report finds expanded operations at the enrichment site in Kangson, near Pyongyang. Two plants running at once, not one.
“The ongoing operation of enrichment facilities at Kangson and Yongbyon... is a cause for serious concern”
Three or four more warheads a year
Outside analysts estimate 28 cascades, about 4,592 centrifuges, could produce roughly 85kg of highly enriched uranium annually. That is enough fuel for three or four extra bombs.
Kim says capacity has doubled
On his June tour, Kim claimed output of weapons-grade material had more than doubled in five years, and promised plans to strengthen nuclear forces exponentially.
“vast future plans to exponentially strengthen the country's nuclear forces”
Nobody agrees on the count
Seoul's defence minister put the arsenal at 80 to 120 warheads in August; Donald Trump said 57 the same month. South Korea's military says it cannot confirm either figure.
The headline
North Korea is scaling bomb-fuel production in plain sight, and the outside world is now measuring it from orbit rather than from inside the fence.
