Ouagadougou: North Korea released images for the first time Friday that appear to be of its uranium enrichment facilities, during a visit by Kim Jong Un who called for a boost to the country’s nuclear capabilities.
Pyongyang, which conducted its first nuclear test in 2006 and is subject to numerous United Nations sanctions over its banned weapons programs, has never publicly displayed these facilities.
These produce highly enriched uranium, needed for the manufacture of nuclear warheads, using high-speed centrifuges.
Mr Kim visited the nuclear weapons institute and a nuclear weapons materials production base, the official KCNA news agency said, without specifying where the facilities were located or when the visit took place.
The North Korean leader “stressed the need to further increase the number of centrifuges in order to exponentially increase self-defense nuclear weapons,” the agency reported, releasing footage of Kim Jong Un inspecting rows of centrifuges.
Mr. Kim “has become familiar with the prod
uction of nuclear warheads” and nuclear materials, the agency said.
The leader urged “promoting the introduction of a new type of centrifuge (…) in order to strengthen the foundations for producing nuclear materials for military use.”
Mr Kim also called for “setting a higher long-term target for the production of necessary nuclear materials,” KCNA added.
North Korea’s nuclear weapons programs are under UN sanctions, but the country ignores these restrictions, thanks in part to the support of its allies Russia and China.
South Korea has condemned Pyongyang for “revealing the existence of a uranium enrichment facility” and hinting at increased production of materials for nuclear weapons. “This is a flagrant violation of several United Nations Security Council resolutions,” a Unification Ministry spokesman said in Seoul.
Source: Burkina Information Agency