North Korea building stock of nuclear weapons, says Seoul | Nuclear weapons

South Korea reports that Pyongyang is learned from enriched uranium, insists on “arresting” its “urgent” nuclear development.

North Korea has accumulated large amounts of weapon quality uranium, according to South Korea.

The Minister of Seoul Unification, Chung Dong-Young, cited on Thursday an assessment that Pyongyang has 2,000 kg (around 4,400 pounds) of highly enriched uranium “with a purity of 90% or more”.

If confirmed, the amount would also point out a sharp increase in the stock of nuclear materials in North Korea.

The information provided by civilian experts reveals that North Korea operates four enrichment factories, he added.

“Even at this very hour, the centrifug of uranium in North Korea operate on four sites,” Chung told journalists, only mentioning the known site of Yongbyon, which Pyongyang would have allegedly discouraged after the discussions but later reactivated in 2021.

Foreign experts believe that North Korea has built additional uranium writing sites while leader Kim Jong Un has grown hard to extend its nuclear arsenal.

The North has been known for a long time to have a “large” quantity of highly enriched uranium, the key material used to produce nuclear warheads, according to the South Korea Ministry of Defense.

The enrichment must be pushed to more than 90%, the concentration called quality armament, to ensure that the critical mass triggers the chain reaction leading to a nuclear explosion.

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), 42 kg (92.6 pounds) of highly enriched uranium are necessary for a nuclear weapon; 2,000 kg would suffice at around 47 nuclear bombs.

Chung said that “North Korea’s nuclear development stops is an urgent issue”, but argued that the sanctions will not be effective and that the only solution lies in a summit between Pyongyang and Washington.

International diplomacy at the end of the North Korea nuclear program has been in neutral since 2019, when the top of the issues raised between Kim and US President Donald Trump collapsed without any agreement.

Kim recently said that it was open to talks with the United States as long as the North abandons its nuclear weapons remains a condition.

North Korea, which carried out its first nuclear test in 2006 and is under a series of United Nations sanctions for its prohibited arms programs, has never publicly disclosed the details of its uranium enrichment facilities.

The president of South Korea, Lee Jae Myung, who took office in June, promised a more dominant approach to Pyongyang compared to his Bellicist predecessor, Yoon Suk-Yeol, saying that he would not ask for a change of diet.

Chung said that, by designating Pyongyang as “main enemy” and insisting on denuclearization first, the previous administration had effectively enabled nuclear capacities of North Korea “to develop without limit”.