“North Korea resumes construction of its nuclear reactor”: production of plutonium nuclear weapons could multiply tenfold | abroad

Satellite images were taken in April and May by the US company Maxar. They show that North Korea has resumed construction of a second reactor at its Yongbyon nuclear complex, after shutting down its nuclear power plant for years. So says experts at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, who analyzed the photos. The new reactor is about ten times the size of the current reactor at Yongbyon, which was commissioned in the late 1980s.

A CNN insider says US officials are closely monitoring recent activity at the nuclear center. An informed source said that North Korea will not be interested in concealing work on the nuclear reactor.

The information regarding activities in the complex follows a series of provocations by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. At the end of last month, he threatened that his government could use nuclear weapons “preventively” to defend itself against hostile forces. The United States said North Korea is also preparing to conduct a nuclear test at the Punggye-ri nuclear weapons test site. Such a test can be done as early as this month. North Korea’s last nuclear test was in 2017.