SEOUL, September 13. /TASS/. North Korea "has publicly revealed details" about the site where it produces enriched uranium, which is needed to create nuclear warheads, South Korea's Yonhap news agency wrote, commenting on the visit of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to "the Nuclear Weapons Institute and the production base."
On September 13, the Korean Central Telegraphic Agency reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had visited the Nuclear Weapons Institute and a base for producing materials for nuclear weapons. The agency published photos of the facility's interior.
Yonhap noted that this was the first time that North Korea had publicly disclosed any details about its uranium enrichment site via state media. The agency added that in 2010, American nuclear physicist Siegfried Hecker visited the nuclear facility in Nyongbyon.
South Korean media, citing experts, suggest that the move may be linked to the upcoming US presidential election. "Ahead of the US election, North Korea is sending a message to the US - don't expect denuclearization from North Korea, as it is an impossible goal," Cheong Seong-chang, a senior official at the Sejong Research Institute, told the agency.
Hong Min, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification, believes that North Korea is trying to tell Kamala Harris that if she is elected, she should move away from Joe Biden's policy on the Korean Peninsula. Some experts say that Pyongyang might be interested in talks on nuclear arms control, but will not consider total denuclearization. According to Yonhap, many believe that Donald Trump has a better chance of opening a dialogue on nuclear arms control with North Korea if he is elected.
"For North Korea, showing the uranium enrichment site would be the most effective way to impact the US election without resorting to a nuclear test," Hong Min said. He suggested that the leadership of the country would not conduct such a test amid the current circumstances, although there has been speculation that the media report could be a prelude to one.
Nuclear status
"Neither we nor the international community will ever recognize North Korea as a nuclear power. North Korea knows this very well," the Korean Unification Ministry said on the matter. Seoul stated that North Korea's nuclear program violates UN Security Council resolutions and poses a serious threat to peace. The South Korean government pointed out that there is no reason for the DPRK to have nuclear weapons and called on Pyongyang to engage in dialogue on denuclearization.
North Korea's nuclear status is enshrined in its constitution. In May, the country's Foreign Ministry compared discussions about denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula to an encroachment on its constitutional principles. In September 2022, Kim Jong Un said that the adoption of the law on nuclear forces makes talks on denuclearization impossible.