NEW DELHI: North Korea has disclosed a new facility for producing nuclear bomb fuel, with leader Kim Jong Un vowing to expand the country’s nuclear forces “at an exponential rate.”State-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that Kim, during a visit to the plant, endorsed “an ambitious future plan designed to beef up our state’s nuclear forces at an exponential rate.“Kim claimed North Korea’s production of weapons-grade nuclear material has more than doubled over the past five years, though there is no independent verification of the assertion.Estimates of North Korea’s existing nuclear arsenal vary widely. A senior South Korean official told lawmakers in 2018 that the country possessed between 20 and 60 nuclear weapons, while some experts now estimate the stockpile may exceed 100 warheads. Annual production capacity is believed to be between six and 18 additional weapons.KCNA described the newly disclosed facility as using “more sophisticated technology” but provided no further details. Its location and operational status remain unclear.State media images showed a large hall lined with cylindrical centrifuges used to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff assessed the site as a uranium enrichment facility and said Seoul is closely coordinating with the United States to monitor developments. No additional details have been released.“This signifies an amazing, successful change that is beyond rhetorical description, a historic event that has set up an epochal milestone in rapidly upgrading our nuclear capabilities,” Kim was quoted as saying.Pyongyang has long framed its nuclear programme as a defensive necessity against what Kim described as threats from “the most ferocious enemies,” a reference to the United States and South Korea. North Korea views its nuclear arsenal as a deterrent against US military forces stationed on the Korean Peninsula and has repeatedly declared its path toward nuclear armament “irreversible.”North Korea withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1993 and has since conducted six nuclear tests, prompting multiple rounds of United Nations sanctions. Although its last nuclear test took place in 2017, the country has continued to expand its inventory of nuclear-capable missiles with ranges sufficient to strike US allies in Asia as well as the American mainland.The latest disclosure comes less than two years after North Korea publicly revealed another covert uranium enrichment plant in September 2024. That announcement marked only the second public disclosure of such a facility since American scholars were shown the Yongbyon nuclear complex in 2010.Last year, South Korea’s unification minister said North Korea was operating four uranium enrichment facilities, including Yongbyon, and that all were functioning on a daily basis. Nuclear weapons can be produced using either highly enriched uranium or plutonium, and North Korea is believed to retain the capability to produce both at Yongbyon.In April, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi said there had been “a rapid increase” in activity at North Korean nuclear facilities.North Korea has accelerated its nuclear expansion since diplomatic efforts between Kim and US President Donald Trump collapsed in 2019. Since then, Pyongyang has rebuffed renewed engagement efforts from both Washington and Seoul.
