North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s visit to a uranium enrichment site has revived the nuclear threat on the Korean peninsula as the US presidential election approaches, the official KCNA news agency reported on Friday, September 13. Pyongyang has never published images of the centrifuges that equip the facility.
“We are trying to understand the North’s intentions. With all options on the table, South Korean and U.S. intelligence are closely monitoring its activities.”the South Korean presidency reacted. “Any nuclear threat or provocation by Pyongyang will be met with an overwhelming response from our government and military, which will rely on the robust deterrence extended under the Seoul-Washington alliance.”South Korea’s Unification Ministry added.
In Japan, government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi deplored Kim Jong-un’s initiative and recalled that the North’s nuclear program “constitutes a threat to the peace and security of [leur] country and the international community, and it is absolutely unacceptable”.
Mr. Kim’s visit was accompanied by a call for increased “exponentially” the number of centrifuges to strengthen the nuclear arsenal developed “for defensive purposes”. Kim Jong-un expressed his “great satisfaction” after learning that the “The site produces fissile materials at a sustained rate”.
Tensions have been heightened since the start of the war in Ukraine
With this initiative, North Korea “announces its seventh nuclear test before the US presidential election on November 5, or even before the anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers’ Party on October 10”analyzes Cheong Seong-chang, an expert at the Sejong Institute in South Korea.
“For North Korea, revealing a uranium enrichment facility is the most effective way to influence the US presidential election, short of conducting a nuclear test”qualifies Hong Min of the Korean Unification Institute.
It would be a testament to the progress of the North’s nuclear program. The site visited by Kim Jong-un is said to be new. South Korean and U.S. intelligence services believe North Korea operates enrichment facilities at the Kangson nuclear complex near Pyongyang and at the historic Yongbyon nuclear site, about 100 kilometers north of the capital.
Kim Jong-un’s visit reportedly took place in Kangson, as the KCNA report said Mr. Kim visited a “construction site”This site has already been identified by the International Atomic Energy Agency. “At the end of February, construction work began on an annex to the main building of the Kangson complex, which significantly increased the available space. The annex is already finished externally.”explained Rafael Grossi, director general of the UN agency, in a report in June.
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