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North Korea on Friday released rare images of a uranium enrichment facility for the first time, showing leader Kim Jong Un touring it and calling for the installation of more centrifuges to bolster his nuclear arsenal.
According to the North’s official Korean Central News Agency, Kim was seen inspecting rows of centrifuges, stressing the need to increase the number of them “to accelerate the production of nuclear weapons for self-defense.”
Kim visited a nuclear facility and called for strengthening his country’s nuclear capabilities in the face of growing threats from Washington and its allies, state media reported Friday. The report comes a day after North Korea fired several short-range ballistic missiles into the sea off its east coast, according to South Korea’s military, in the nuclear-armed state’s first major test since early July.
The KCNA reported that Kim inspected the “Nuclear Weapons Institute” and a production base for weapons-grade nuclear materials, noting that nuclear scientists should carry out the party’s policy of building nuclear power unconditionally, with firm faith and high practical capabilities.
Kim added that nuclear threats from the United States and its allies “have become more obvious and crossed the red line,” stressing that North Korea must “expand its defense capabilities and develop its preemptive attack capabilities based on nuclear power.”
North Korea has carried out dozens of missile launches this year, while the West accuses Pyongyang of delivering ammunition and missiles to Moscow for use in the war against Ukraine. Although North Korea denies any involvement in any arms deals with Russia, Pyongyang this year declared South Korea its “main enemy” and recently moved nuclear-capable weapons to border areas.
Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff monitored the launch of short-range ballistic missiles from Pyongyang on Thursday morning towards the Sea of Japan, explaining that the missiles crashed after traveling a distance of about 360 kilometers, and confirmed that it had exchanged information with its allies, Tokyo and Washington.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff “strongly” condemned the missile launches, calling them a “clear provocation” that threatens peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula. Japan’s Defense Ministry confirmed the missile test.
Referring to the test, North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency reported that Kim “supervised a test-fire to verify the performance of a new-type 600mm multiple rocket launcher,” adding that the shells “hit a target in the East Sea” and that the test was conducted “to develop the launcher’s command system and verify its combat effectiveness thanks to fully automatic firing.”
