International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi said Wednesday that operations at North Korea’s Yongbyon reactor had increased rapidly, pointing to growth in the country’s nuclear weapons production capacity.
“In our periodic assessments, we have been able to confirm that there’s a rapid increase in the operations” of the Yongbyon reactor, Grossi told reporters in Seoul.
Grossi said the agency also observed increased activity at Yongbyon’s reprocessing unit and light-water reactor, as well as the activation of other facilities.
“All that points to a very serious increase in the capabilities of [the] DPRK in the area of nuclear weapons production, which is estimated at a few dozen warheads,” he said, using North Korea’s official name.
South Korea’s spy agency has said North Korea operates multiple uranium-enrichment facilities, including one at Yongbyon. North Korea had said it decommissioned that facility after talks, but later reactivated it in 2021.
Grossi also said the agency had identified the construction of a “new facility similar to the enrichment facility in Yongbyon.” He said it was “not easy to calculate” any production increases without access to the site.
However, “we consider, looking at external features of the facility, that there will be a significant increase in the enrichment capacity of the DPRK,” he said.
North Korea conducted its first nuclear test in 2006 and is under United Nations sanctions over its weapons programs. It said it would never give up its nuclear weapons and cut off access to International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors in 2009.
Asked whether Russia was helping North Korea’s nuclear development, Grossi said the agency had not seen “anything in particular in that regard.”
North Korea has sent ground troops and artillery shells to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and observers say Pyongyang is receiving military technology assistance from Moscow in return.