Kim calls for faster nuclear build-up after visit to North Korean uranium facility

SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called for an exponential expansion of the country’s nuclear arsenal during a visit to a newly operational nuclear material production facility, state news agency KCNA reported on Thursday.

According to KCNA, Kim said the country’s capacity to produce weapons-grade nuclear material had risen to more than twice its previous level over the past five years. During the visit, he instructed officials to raise output further in line with what the agency described as long-term strategic objectives.

KCNA said Kim was briefed on newly introduced production methods using more advanced technology and reviewed current production goals as well as future plans. State media photographs showed him walking through the facility alongside rows of cylindrical equipment. Some analysts said the images suggested the site may be located at North Korea’s main nuclear complex in Yongbyon.

Kim said the expansion was needed because of what he described as intensifying security threats and a prolonged confrontation with the country’s most hostile adversaries. He also reiterated North Korea’s policy of strengthening its nuclear deterrent.

KCNA reported that an important consultative meeting on reinforcing nuclear forces was also held the same day, where Kim presented directions for speeding up both the qualitative and quantitative growth of the country’s atomic arsenal.

KCNA quoted Kim as saying the country had defined the sequence and safeguards for implementing an ambitious future plan to expand its nuclear forces rapidly. “The country has set out the sequence and safeguards for executing an ‘ambitious future plan designed to beef up our states nuclear forces at an exponential rate.”

KCNA also quoted him as describing the move as a major step in strengthening North Korea’s capabilities. “This is a ‘historic event that has set up an epochal milestone in rapidly upgrading our nuclear capabilities.”

South Korea identifies site as uranium-enrichment facility

A South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff official told a briefing in Seoul that the facility unveiled by North Korea was a uranium-enrichment site.

Analysts said Kim’s visit appeared intended to strengthen Pyongyang’s position ahead of any possible diplomatic engagement while also justifying a faster nuclear expansion programme.

Chad O’Carroll, founder of the North Korea-focused website NK News, said the timing of the visit could be connected to a possible trip by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Pyongyang. He noted that before a planned visit to Beijing in September 2025, Kim had inspected plans for a new intercontinental ballistic missile, the Hwasong-20. “The logic would be to demonstrate absolutely that denuclearisation is not possible, right on the eve of contact with the PRC (People’s Republic of China),” he said.

Lim Eul-chul, a professor at South Korea’s Kyungnam University Institute for Far Eastern Studies, also linked the visit to South Korea’s pursuit of a nuclear-powered submarine and its discussions with Washington on uranium enrichment rights. He said Pyongyang could be using those developments to justify a quicker expansion of its weapons programme.

“Even if South Korea does not proceed, the North will follow its own path, but such developments provide a convenient pretext to push its nuclear build-up faster and on a larger scale,” he said.

International assessments estimate that North Korea possesses around 50 nuclear warheads, although the country has never publicly disclosed the size of its arsenal.