North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited a uranium enrichment facility’s control center to observe how its production lines work and supervised a test-fire for a new 600mm multiple rocket launcher, according to state media KCNA on Friday.
Kim also paid visits to the Nuclear Weapons Institute and the production base for weapon-grade nuclear materials, where he established a long-term strategy to increase production, according to the KCNA report.
Kim is said to have urged workers to produce more materials for tactical nuclear weapons, saying the country’s nuclear arsenal is vital for confronting threats from the United States and its allies.
The weapons are needed for “self-defence and the capability for a preemptive attack,” he said.
The North Korean leader said “anti-DPRK nuclear threats” from the “U.S. imperialists-led vassal forces” have crossed the red-line, according to the report.
South Korea condemned North Korea’s unveiling of its uranium enrichment facility and will never accept Pyongyang’s possession of nuclear weapons, the South’s unification ministry said.
North Korea is believed to have several sites for enriching uranium. Analysts say commercial satellite imagery has shown construction in recent years at the main Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center, including its uranium enrichment plant, suggesting possible expansion.
Uranium is a radioactive element that exists naturally. To make nuclear fuel, raw uranium undergoes processes that result in a material with an increased concentration of the isotope uranium-235.
International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi said on Monday that the U.N. nuclear watchdog had observed activity consistent with the operation of a reactor and the reported centrifuge enrichment facility at Yongbyon.
