North Korea's nuclear activities pose an active threat and cause serious concern, said a United Nations watchdog's report. The document also detailed how Pyongyang is believed to be enriching uranium, which could potentially become a nuclear weapon.
Secretive nuclear program
In the report released on Tuesday, the International Atomic Energy Agency wrote that North Korea's activities are a direct violation of the applicable UN Security Council resolutions that have been imposed.
According to the New York Post, the report also included notes on how the Yongbyon site, previously the country's nuclear program core, has more than likely been shut down since 2018. The documents stated that in the past year, no plutonium had been produced in the country.
The report states that experts did not observe any operation of the plant that provides the required steam in the processing activities of the resources. It continued to conclude that it was almost certain that the 5MW(e) reactor-made plutonium has not been separated after the most recent operational cycle.
North Korea has not allowed the agency's inspectors to travel to the country and monitor its nuclear activities since 2009. However, UN experts continued to analyze satellite images and used several open-source information to track and observe Pyongyang's nuclear program.
Despite the continuous monitoring and observation, the UN says that the information it is able to gather about North Korea is declining because of its restricted access to first-hand information. The report states that the agency's knowledge of North Korea's nuclear program and activities are limited and steadily decreasing.
Pyongyang is known to have facilities capable of producing both plutonium and highly-enriched uranium. The two resources are crucial to the manufacture of nuclear bombs. Both plutonium and uranium are made at the Yongbyon nuclear complex found in the capital, as reported by The New York Times.
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The agency also said that it observed cooling unites at the nuclear complex's fuel rod fabrication plant and movement of vehicles were in line with the process of enriching uranium at the nation's centrifuge enrichment facility.
Pyongyang's last nuclear weapon was seen in 2017 after the country continued its nuclear program and testing.
A new endeavor
It is also assumed that North Korea is enriching uranium inside a facility just outside its capital, Pyongyang, known as Kangson, which has attracted widespread attention in recent years as a potential site of uranium enrichment.
According to Daily Sabah, the Kangson complex's construction precedes the initial founding of the centrifuge enrichment facility located in Yongbyon. The agency said that the two facilities shared similar characteristics.
The report noted that if the complex found in Kangson were indeed a centrifuge enrichment facility, it would support the agency's assumed timeline of North Korea's nuclear program.
While the United States government has claimed that Pyongyang ceased its nuclear ambitions, it warned on Tuesday that North Korea has continued to accrue materials and equipment used in its ballistic missile program.
The Treasury, Commerce, and State Departments have jointly detailed how North Korea has been conducting efforts to acquire various metals and materials, all of which could be used to manufacture rockets. The departments have warned sellers to be aware of the sanctions placed on the country.
