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Bloomberg

New details about North Korea’s nuclear bomb-building activity have stoked fears that Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un could supply nations pursuing illicit weapons programmes.
The International Atomic Energy Agency started its annual general conference in Vienna on Monday, days after Pyongyang revealed images of a factory where uranium isotopes can be separated to fuel nuclear weapons.
The facility’s scale suggests North Korea could be enriching material beyond what it needs for its own security.
“We are concerned that material could go elsewhere,” US Deputy Secretary of Energy David Turk said in an interview.
North Korea’s “deeply troubling” new capacity has been a primary focus of meetings this week in the Austrian capital, he said.

On September 13, North Korean state media reported a rare visit by Kim to his Nuclear Weapons Institute where centrifuges produce highly-enriched uranium for weapons. Engineers there are under orders to “exponentially increase” the nuclear stockpile, the official Korean Central News Agency said.
“North Korea has already produced enough enriched uranium for a sizeable nuclear stockpile and hardly needs more,” said Robert Kelley, a US nuclear-weapons engineer and former IAEA safeguards director.
“A major concern is that the excess can be diverted to sales to the highest bidder, state or non-state,” he said. “This is a huge proliferation concern.”
With ample uranium reserves, access to the full nuclear-fuel cycle and the knowledge gained from six weapons tests, North Korea is beyond the reach of international atomic regulators who control trade.
Analysts at 38 North, an arms-control website, said the images show North Korea has successfully evaded sanctions to boost production.
North Korea has already produced enough enriched uranium for a sizeable nuclear stockpile and hardly needs more
Robert Kelley, nuclear-weapons engineer
Intelligence analysts suggest Pyongyang has already developed a standardised low-yield nuclear warhead that can be deployed using a number of missiles. The country’s stockpile may already have risen to as many as 90 bombs, according to the most recent Federation of American Scientists estimates.
“That’s a lot of material,” Turk said. “Those are a lot of weapons.”
Wider geopolitical clashes are complicating efforts to peacefully reign in North Korea’s developing capabilities. Even as the US clashes with China and Russia, Turk said diplomats from the two countries will be critical to resolving the issue.
That’s a distant possibility, according to South Korea’s envoy to the IAEA meeting, who pointed to the Kremlin’s deepening military involvement with North Korea. Pyongyang and Moscow have stepped up trade in the wake of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“We urge Russia and North Korea to immediately cease their unlawful cooperation,” South Korea Science Minister Sang Im-yoo said at the IAEA meeting. “The increasing military cooperation between Russia and North Korea threatens peace and stability in the entire world.”

On Wednesday, North Korea fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles, displaying military hardware it has been suspected of sending to Russia in a test that came soon after it dispatched its foreign minister to Moscow.
North Korea fired multiple missiles starting around 6:50am towards waters off its east coast that flew about 400km (250 miles), South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a message sent to reporters. Japan’s coastguard said separately at least two ballistic missiles were fired and they landed outside the country’s exclusive economic zone.
South Korea condemned the launch as “a provocative act” and said it was sharing information with the United States and Japan as the three analyse the test. North Korea usually does not comment on its missile launches until the following day.
About a day before firing off the missiles, North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui left for Russia, making her second trip in less than a year to the major backer of Kim’s regime. The foreign minister who rarely travels abroad last went to Moscow in January, when she held talks with President Vladimir Putin in a meeting the US and its partners saw as facilitating arms shipments from North Korea to aid the Kremlin’s assault on Ukraine.

Kim’s regime may be looking for support as it readies for a parliamentary meeting on October 7 that is set to approve measures seen as raising tensions with South Korea.
At the session, the rubber stamp parliament known as the Supreme People’s Assembly is expected to formalise changes to its constitution. At its last meeting in January, Kim called for removing the concept of “peaceful reunification” with South Korea from the document and asserting authority near a contested nautical border that has been a scene of armed conflict.
South Korea and the US have accused Kim of sending millions of rounds of artillery shells and scores of ballistic missiles to Russia to aid the Kremlin. Recent weapons tests by Kim’s regime are likely demonstrations for Putin of armaments that he can use in his assault on Ukraine, officials in Seoul have said.
In exchange for the arms, Russia has sent aid that has propped up North Korea’s economy and helped Kim advance his weapons programmes, Seoul and Washington have said. Pyongyang and Moscow have denied the accusations despite ample evidence showing the arms transfers taking place.


North Korea fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast nearly a week ago. It released images of the launch and the missiles appeared to be similar to rockets that weapons experts said were used by the Kremlin to attack Ukraine.
Ukraine’s military intelligence chief has said supplies of North Korean ammunition to Moscow have been causing major headaches for his country’s defence, as Russia’s full-scale invasion grinds through its third year.
The support from Russia has coincided with Kim taking a tougher stance toward Seoul and Washington.
Kim raised security concerns when he hosted Putin in Pyongyang in mid-June, where the two countries reached a deal to come to the other’s aid if attacked. The North Korean leader also pledged to “unconditionally support” Russia in its invasion of Ukraine.


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North Korea

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un pictured holding a scoped rifle during a visit to a military training base this month. Photo: KCNA via Reuters

Kim Jong-un inspects the production of weapons-grade nuclear material at North Korea’s Nuclear Weapons Institute. “That’s a lot of material,” analysts said. “Those are a lot of weapons.” Photo: KCNA/via EPA-EFE

Kim Jong-un holds a scoped rifle during a visit to a military training base this month. Photo: KCNA via Reuters

A man in Seoul walks past a television screen showing a news broadcast of a North Korean missile test on Wednesday. Photo: AFP

Kim walks with Vladimir Putin (right) during a farewell ceremony for the Russian president after his visit to Pyongyang in June. Photo: Sputnik/AFP

Was North Korea’s latest missile launch meant to sway US election, test weapons for Ukraine war?

People watch the news at a station in Seoul, South Korea, According to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, North Korea launched several ballistic missiles into the East Sea on September 12. Photo: EPA-EFE

A target explodes during a performance test of an upgraded rocket launcher system overseen by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Photo: KCNA via Reuters

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un delivers a speech to celebrate the National Foundation Day of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Photo: KCNA/KNS/dpa

Philippines ‘will be a target’ in event of nuclear war between China and US, analysts warn

Soldiers prepare a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System a joint exercise with the US in Fort Magsaysay, the Philippines, earlier in August. Photo: AFP


The US Army’s new medium-range missile launch system, Typhon. Photo: US Army

A High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (Himars) during live fire exercises in Laur, Nueva Ecija province, the Philippines, on August 9. Photo: EPA-EFE / Philippine Army

North Korea’s law change raises threat of nuclear war as it declares South its ‘top enemy’

A South Korean Convoy FFG-2 takes part in a drill to prepare for a possible attack from North Korea in the Yellow Sea on January 3. Photo: South Korean Defence Ministry/EPA-EFE

North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un watches an ICBM missile test at an undisclosed location on December 18. Photo: KCNA/KNS/dpa

North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un speaks at the 10th session of the 14th Supreme People’s Assembly in Pyongyang on January 15. Photo: KCNA via KNS/AFP

A photo released on January 5 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visiting a factory for mobile launchers for intercontinental ballistic missiles. Photo: KCNA/KNS/dpa

Should South Korea ‘scare Kim’ with US nuclear bombs? ‘China and Russia would raise hell’

South Korean and US soldiers bump fists as they take part in a military drill in South Korea, in 2022. Photo: Reuters

Missiles are launched from an undisclosed location in North Korea during what state media described as a simulated nuclear counter-attack drill last month. Photo: KCNA via EPA-EFE

US President Joe Biden stands next to South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol at an Apec meeting in November. Photo: AFP

As North Korea’s Kim Jong-un threatens Asia with nuclear force, analysts caution against calling his bluff

A photo released by the North Korean government shows a claimed test-fire of a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile in March. Photo: Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP

People in Seoul watch a news programme on North Korea’s military parade showing an image of Kim Jong-un. Photo: AP

A photo released by the North Korean government shows a claimed test-fire of a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in March. Photo: Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP

News

Asia

East Asia

North Korea’s uranium production already surpasses what it needs for its own security and could fuel illicit arms programmes worldwide


North Korea’s uranium production already surpasses what it needs for its own security and could fuel illicit arms programmes worldwide.
