North Korean media revealed its uranium enrichment facilities for the first time on Thursday as they reported on a visit by leader Kim Jong-un to the National Institute for Nuclear Weapons Research in which the marshal to build more centrifuges to increase them. the country’s atomic arsenal.
Images released by the KCNA agency show Kim visiting a fissile material production plant for bombs – without specifying the date and location of the facilities – in the Hong Sung-mu company, one of the key figures in North Korea’s nuclear program through a room where you can see a cascade of gas centrifuges.
During the visit, Kim “highlighted the need to significantly increase the number of centrifuges to increase the number of nuclear weapons for self-defense, in line with the Party’s lines to develop nuclear forces,” KCNA explained.
Kim, who visited the facility’s control room and was briefed on its operations, was “very satisfied when told that the production of nuclear material (for bombs) is steadily expanding” due to the use and the development of North Korean technology.
The director ordered to further improve the separation capacity of centrifuges and promote the introduction of a new type of centrifuge, and the development is in the final stage, according to KCNA.
Kim Jong-un, who also visited the ships being built to hold more transport space, reiterated that the overall security outlook for his country represents a “threat” and that this requires capabilities to develop nuclear defenses and to launch preventive attacks.
Until now, the North Korean regime has never publicly shown its facilities to obtain uranium-235, although it has allowed people such as American scientist Siegfried Hecker to visit a facility at the Nuclear Research Center Yongbyon (about 100 meters) at the beginning of the last decade. kilometers north of Pyongyang) which contained around 2,000 gas centrifuges.
Monitoring missile launches
North Korean media also published news of Kim’s two other military operations.
On the one hand, KCNA reported that the leader observed on Thursday the launch of a test, which Seoul and Tokyo found, of several tactical missiles of the system known as KN-25.
The test focused on testing the new drive system of the mobile mobile launcher (TEL) and verifying, through missile salvos, the operational efficiency of the firing system, which according to KCNA is fully automatic .
At the same time, the North Korean marshal visited on Wednesday the base of the special forces unit of the army and saw the real physical training, their shooting practices (Kim himself was holding new models of assault or sniper rifles in his hands) and drills in -filtration that included participation. of parachute brigades.
These last two actions seem to send a special message to the South, which Kim named at the beginning of the year as the main national enemy.
In turn, it is believed that the publication of the leader’s visit to the production facilities of fissile materials for atomic bombs is an attempt to boast about the nuclear capabilities of the regime just seven weeks before the presidential elections are held in the United States.
Seoul and Washington have warned of the possibility that Pyongyang will soon decide to carry out large-scale tests of weapons of mass destruction, such as a nuclear test or an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch, to pressure put on the regime’s position. — who has declined invitations to engage since 2019 — for whoever is elected as the next president of the United States.
2024-09-13 14:20:17
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