IAEA chief says North Korea continues uranium enrichment at two sites

IAEA director-general Rafael Grossi made the remarks in reference to the plants in Kangson near Pyongyang, and Yongbyon, north of the capital, as he delivered an introductory statement during the agency’s Board of Governors meeting in Vienna, Austria.

The assessment came after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was reported in January to have toured a nuclear-material production base and a nuclear weapons institute — a sign that Pyongyang is doubling down on its nuclear program though Seoul and Washington are pursuing the “complete” denuclearization of North Korea.

“There are indications that the uranium enrichment plants at Kangson and Yongbyon continue to operate, and there are indications that the light water reactor (LWR) at Yongbyon continues to operate,” he said according to a transcript posted on the IAEA website.

“Additions to the support infrastructure have been observed adjacent to the LWR,” he added.

The IAEA has also observed that the 5-megawatt nuclear reactor at the Yongbyon complex resumed in mid-October last year, following a shutdown period of about 60 days, Grossi said.

“This shutdown is assessed to be of sufficient length to refuel the reactor and start its seventh operational cycle,” he said. “Strong indicators of preparations for a new reprocessing campaign, including the operation of the steam plant serving the Radiochemical Laboratory, have been observed.”

The laboratory is known as a key reprocessing facility to yield plutonium. To build a nuclear bomb, around 6 kilograms (13.2 pounds) of plutonium is known to be required.

The director-general took note of the release by the North’s state media of photos depicting leader Kim visiting a nuclear material production base and the Nuclear Weapons Institute earlier this year.

“The depicted centrifuge cascades and infrastructure are consistent with the layout of a centrifuge enrichment facility and with the structure of the Yongbyon Uranium Enrichment Plant. This development follows the DPRK’s publication in September 2024 of photographs of an undeclared enrichment facility at the Kangson Complex,” he said.

DPRK is short for the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

“The undeclared enrichment facilities at both Kangson and Yongbyon, combined with General Secretary Kim’s call for ‘overfulfilling the plan for producing weapons-grade nuclear materials,’ are of serious concern,” he added.

Grossi called the continuation of the North’s nuclear program “deeply regrettable.”

“I call upon the DPRK to comply fully with its obligations under relevant UN Security Council resolutions, to cooperate promptly with the agency in the full and effective implementation of its NPT Safeguards Agreement and to resolve all outstanding issues, especially those that have arisen during the absence of agency inspectors from the country,” he said. NPT stands for the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

“The agency continues to maintain its enhanced readiness to play its essential role in verifying the DPRK’s nuclear program.”

Yonhap