Enrichment work continuing in NKorea

The International Atomic Energy Agency says North Korea is still using its uranium enrichment plant and is building a nuclear reactor.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un Source: AP

North Korea keeps using its uranium enrichment plant and has pushed ahead with the construction of a reactor, the International Atomic Energy Agency says.

IAEA chief Yukiya Amano update to the IAEA's governing board on Monday came after US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un failed to sign an agreement on denuclearisation as they cut short a long-anticipated second summit in Hanoi last week.

Although IAEA inspectors are not allowed into North Korea, they have been using satellite images and available documents to monitor the Yongbyon nuclear complex, which is suspected of producing fissile material for North Korea's nuclear weapons program.

"At the light-water reactor, the [IAEA] saw indications of ongoing construction work," Amano said, adding that his agency "continued to observe indications of the ongoing use of the reported centrifuge enrichment facility".

Enriched uranium is of interest to the IAEA because the material can be used in warheads.

Amano reported last August that there is also a second facility near Yongbyon bearing hallmarks of an enrichment site.

However, the told reporters Monday that "for the time being I have nothing to add from what I said in the August report" on that facility.

Light-water reactors can also be used to produce weapons material, by taking their used nuclear fuel rods and extracting the plutonium that they contain.

However, Amano said his experts have not seen any signs of so-called plutonium reprocessing recently in Yongbyon.

Another existing 5-megawatt reactor in this nuclear complex had not operated since early December, he added.

Trump said in Hanoi that Kim had promised to uphold a moratorium on nuclear test explosions and missile tests.

However, the US ultimately wants the communist country to dismantle its nuclear arms facilities.


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Published 5 March 2019 8:08am
Source: AAP


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