North Korea Issues Photos Of Uranium Enrichment Facility For First Time

Earlier we reported that Kim Jong Un gave a speech marking the 76th founding anniversary of North Korea’s founding to kick off the week. He said that a nuclear overhaul is needed to defend the country from “hostile” forces and that North Korea faces “a grave threat” as a result of the “reckless expansion” the United States-led military bloc in the region.

North Korea will “redouble its measures and efforts to make all the armed forces of the state, including the nuclear force, fully ready for combat,” he stated. On Friday he has backed his words by for the first time releasing images of the country’s main uranium enrichment facility.

KCNA via Reuters

The photos showed Kim touring the site while calling for more centrifuges to be developed, which can in turn churn out highly enriched uranium. The facility has been identified as the country’s Nuclear Weapons Institute described in state media as the “production base of weapon-grade nuclear materials.“

The photo set released by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) did not disclose the location of the facility or the date of the North Korean leader’s visit.

Kim “stressed the need to further augment the number of centrifuges in order to exponentially increase the nuclear weapons for self-defense,” according to the report, which showed him standing above said centrifuges. This marked the second time this week that state media released a message from Kim of desiring ‘exponentially’ increased nuclear capabilities.

Kim “acquainted himself with the production of nuclear warheads and current nuclear materials,” the state media commentary added. He called for the facility and the scientists overseeing it to “push forward the introduction of a new-type centrifuge… so as to further strengthen the foundation for producing weapon-grade nuclear materials.”

He also issued a goal to “set a higher long-term goal in producing nuclear materials necessary.”

Kim has been reacting to a new US-South Korean defense agreement signed in July. The new agreement allows for the integration of US nuclear weapons and South Korean conventional weapons to defend the peninsula from the nuclear-armed north if need be. It is indeed every bit as alarming a development as it sounds. In July the Associated Press summarized of the agreement:

The two leaders authorized “the U.S.-ROK Guidelines for Nuclear Deterrence and Nuclear Operations on the Korean Peninsula,” which were signed by defense officials Thursday, according to South Korea’s presidential office.

…Kim Tae-hyo, a deputy national security director in South Korea, told reporters that South Korea and the U.S. will conduct joint military exercises to help implement the deterrence guidelines. He said the U.S. would commit specific nuclear assets to a role in deterrence plans, but experts added that this does not mean it would permanently place nuclear weapons in South Korea.

Specifics of the guidelines, which Seoul called confidential, were not available, though the U.S. will certainly retain control of its nuclear weapons.

“The key is how to integrate South Korea’s conventional weapons and America’s nuclear weapons to launch joint, massive retaliation to North Korea, when it carries out nuclear strikes on South Korea,” said Kim Yeol Soo, an expert at South Korea’s Korea Institute for Military Affairs.

Pyongyang has as a result engaged in heightened nuclear saber-rattling over the last year, especially following the US decision to at times park a nuclear submarine at South Korean port.

The north has also frequently condemned joint US-South Korean military drills, which it denounces as “invasion rehearsals”.

Seoul and the West at this point are deeply worried that the north could renew banned nuclear tests. The last known North Korean nuclear test was in 2017.

‼️🇰🇵 North Korea about to increase the production of nuclear weapons:

Kim Jong Un inspected a uranium enrichment facility.

He emphasized the need to further increase the number of centrifuges to achieve an “exponential increase in nuclear weapons for self-defense” and pic.twitter.com/hcHBDNarjU

— David Roth-Lindberg (@RothLindberg) September 13, 2024

But if the US is indeed pursuing the integration of its nuclear arsenal into South Korea’s forces, Kim is likely on his way to starting more nuclear tests. He will likely seek to ‘match’ the threat coming from the south.