장동우
| 2026-06-04 16:28:36
(4th LD) N Korea-nuclear material
(4th LD) N. Korea's Kim inspects new nuclear facility, vows to 'exponentially' bolster nuclear forces
(ATTN: UPDATES with more details in paras 5, 16-17)
SEOUL, June 4 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has visited a newly launched nuclear material production facility, vowing to "exponentially" strengthen the country's nuclear arsenal, state media reported Thursday.
Kim made the visit the previous day, accompanied by key party officials, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported, without disclosing the facility's location or other details.
Seoul's defense ministry said in a press briefing that it assessed the newly revealed facility as a uranium enrichment site.
Currently, North Korea is believed to house uranium enrichment facilities in three sites -- Yongbyon, Kangson and Kusong. It remains unclear whether the report suggests the existence of a fourth location.
Among North Korean experts in Seoul, the facility is widely suspected to be of a newly opened plant in the Yongbyon nuclear complex.
Kim said the country's "weapons-grade nuclear material production capacity more than doubled" over the past five years, attributing the gains to the country's nuclear scientists, according to the report.
"Potential threats and unpredictable long-term crises further highlight the urgency" of expanding the nuclear deterrent "both in quality and quantity and in a sustained and accelerated way," Kim said, signaling that Pyongyang has no intention of stepping back from its nuclear ambitions.
North Korea also said it held an "important consultative meeting for bolstering up the nuclear forces" on the same day during which Kim issued "action guidelines for rapidly accelerating the qualitative and quantitative" buildup of Pyongyang's nuclear forces.
"Today we have updated the digits that are critical for our nuclear activities," Kim said at the meeting, adding Pyongyang had "confirmed the order of priority" for a plan to "beef up our state's nuclear forces at an exponential rate."
He called it a "historic event that has set up an epochal milestone in rapidly upgrading our nuclear capabilities."
Photos released by the KCNA show rows of cylindrical centrifuges used for uranium enrichment inside the facility. In another photo, documents believed to be related to Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program are blurred on a table where Kim is seated.
At a key party congress in February, Pyongyang reaffirmed its status as an "irreversible" nuclear-armed state and pledged to further strengthen its nuclear deterrent under a five-year military modernization plan.
In September 2024, North Korea disclosed its uranium enrichment facility for the first time and called for increasing the number of centrifuges for uranium enrichment.
Unification Minister Chung Dong-yong at that time said North Korea had been operating four nuclear enrichment sites and was estimated to possess up to 2,000 kg of highly enriched uranium at 90 percent purity or higher. Approximately 10 to 12 kg of uranium is enough to produce one bomb, he added.
The latest KCNA report marked the third such account of Kim visiting a nuclear facility, following trips in September 2024 and January 2025, a unification ministry official said Thursday.
A Seoul foreign ministry official said Pyongyang's ongoing nuclear activities were in "clear violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions and a challenge against the international peace, security and non-proliferation regime."
"The government is closely monitoring activities involving North Korean nuclear facilities and activities in close coordination with our friendly nations," the official said.
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