North Korea is flexing its nuclear muscle. Official propaganda for the isolated republic on Friday published for the first time images of centrifuges that produce atomic fuel for its bombs. State media reported a visit by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to the Nuclear Weapons Institute and a base for producing weapons-grade nuclear materials. The news was accompanied by these images, as well as Kim’s words, calling on workers to increase production of materials for tactical nuclear weapons.
Nuclear capability is necessary for “self-defense and the ability to strike preemptively,” the iron-fisted dictator said. “The nuclear threats perpetrated by the vassal forces led by the US imperialists have become more open-minded and have crossed the red line,” he added, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
A look inside the guts of North Korea’s nuclear program is a rare sight. These facilities are theoretically banned under multiple UN Security Council resolutions, which keep the regime under sanctions. The photos show Kim, dressed in black, walking through a covered hall between rows of grayish metal tubes and cylinders — the interconnected centrifuges. He is accompanied by what appear to be two scientists dressed in white and two military men in large peaked caps. “Respected Comrade Kim Jong-un inspects the Nuclear Weapons Institute and the production base for weapons-grade nuclear materials,” reads the caption in the KCNA photo. The images are not dated and do not give the location of the site.
“Kim Jong-un toured the control room of the uranium enrichment base and learned about the general operation of the production process,” the agency said in its statement. The autocrat, it continued, “expressed great satisfaction upon receiving a report that the current production of nuclear materials is constantly expanding.” During the visit, he stressed the need to continue increasing the number of centrifuges “to exponentially increase nuclear weapons,” while at the same time introducing a new type of centrifuge that will continue “strengthen the production base of weapons-grade nuclear materials.”
Mutual defense pact with Russia
North Korea has not carried out an atomic bomb test since 2017, but in the last two years it has significantly increased its short-, medium- and long-range ballistic tests. In addition, the country has moved closer to Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kim sealed a pact in June that includes mutual defense in case of aggression; while Western intelligence services believe that he is secretly sending Russia shipments of projectiles and ballistic missiles to help in the war effort in Ukraine, and receiving in return technology to deploy spy satellites, as well as conventional weapons such as tanks and aircraft. In this context, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu,traveledon Friday in Pyongyang and met with Kim Jong-un. The United States has repeatedly accused North Korea of supplying munitions and ballistic missiles to Russia in order to continue its partial occupation of Ukraine.
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North Korea is believed to have several uranium enrichment facilities. Analysts cited by Reuters say commercial satellite images have shown construction in recent years at the main Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Centre, including its uranium enrichment plant, suggesting a possible expansion. International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi said activity consistent with the operation of a reactor and centrifuge enrichment facility had been observed at Yongbyon.
Since 2022, Pyongyang has been considering not only using nuclear weapons defensively, but also the possibility of striking first under various conditions. North Korea is estimated to have assembled 50 nuclear warheads, and has fissile material for 70-90 nuclear weapons, according to the Washington-based Arms Control Association.
