September 13, 2024
The following is an excerpt from NK Pro.
The uranium enrichment plant where North Korean leader Kim Jong Un recently inspected new centrifuges is likely a covert facility near Pyongyang long suspected of being a nuclear site, according to analysis by the Open Source Team at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies of the Middlebury Institute and NK Pro.
Photos published in state media on Friday and satellite imagery point to a facility known as Kangson located west of the capital, which underwent construction to expand floor space earlier this year.
The photos appear to confirm the existence of a second uranium enrichment site beside one at the already disclosed Yongbyon nuclear complex, a revelation that will fuel suspicions that North Korea can produce more fissile material than previously known.
During his undated visit to the Nuclear Weapons Institute and a “uranium enrichment facility,” Kim inspected “the construction site for expanding the capacity for the current production of nuclear weapons,” the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.
Of the five photos included in the report, one shows a modern-looking room where the outer wall outlines “line up well with the new construction at Kangson,” Sam Lair of the Open Source Team told NK Pro.
Continue reading at NK Pro.
