Building in N. Korea's Yongbyon possibly to house new centrifuges
BEIJING (Kyodo) -- A building currently under construction at the Yongbyon nuclear complex in North Korea's northwest is possibly intended to accommodate an advanced type of centrifuge for uranium enrichment, according to a Japanese expert.
Yuki Kobayashi, research fellow at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation in Tokyo who is well-versed in nuclear proliferation, recently told Kyodo News he cannot confirm whether the building is a uranium enrichment facility based on satellite images, but Pyongyang is in "desperate need" of such a building for its nuclear program.
In September, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for the introduction of new centrifuges, which were in the final stage of development, to boost the country's production of nuclear weapons.
International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi said Monday in Vienna that the nuclear watchdog is monitoring the construction of the new structure, which he said has similar features to an existing uranium enrichment plant in Kangson near Pyongyang.
Kobayashi said the new building, which would be the third uranium enrichment facility in North Korea along with existing ones in Yongbyon and Kangson, may only accommodate the updated type of centrifuge.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies, a U.S. think tank, has released several satellite images of the suspected new uranium enrichment facility in Yongbyon.
Its analysis showed the construction had started in mid-December. The building was externally completed by early June and internal construction continues, according to the think tank.
Kim toured a nuclear material production base and the Nuclear Weapons Institute last September and January, the country's state-run media had said without reporting the location of the sites.
In an unusual move, the official Korean Central News Agency published pictures in September and January showing arrays of centrifuges at one or more undeclared facilities visited by Kim.
In September 2017, North Korea claimed it detonated a hydrogen bomb that can be mounted on an intercontinental ballistic missile, in its sixth and most powerful nuclear test.
As a miniaturized hydrogen bomb needs both plutonium and highly enriched uranium for detonation, North Korea may be expanding its capacity for uranium enrichment.
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