IAEA chief says North Korea shows serious nuclear weapons capability

North Korea’s capacity to build nuclear weapons is rising at an alarming pace, according to the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, who warned of a “very serious increase” in the country’s production capability.

South Korea’s spy agency has said it believes North Korea is running multiple uranium-enrichment facilities, a crucial stage in producing nuclear warheads.

Among them is a plant at the Yongbyon nuclear complex, which Pyongyang had purportedly decommissioned after talks but later brought back into operation in 2021.

“In our periodic assessments, we have been able to confirm that there’s a rapid increase in the operations” of the Yongbyon reactor, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi told a news conference in Seoul.

“All that points to a very serious increase in the capabilities of (the) DPRK in the area of nuclear weapons production, which is estimated at a few dozen warheads,” he said, using North Korea’s official name.

North Korea, which carried out its first nuclear test in 2006, remains subject to rafts of UN sanctions over its banned weapons programmes.

It has declared that it will never give up its nuclear weapons.

Asked whether Russia was helping advance North Korea’s nuclear programme, Mr Grossi said the IAEA had not observed “anything in particular in that regard”.

North Korea has supplied ground troops and artillery shells to back Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and observers say Pyongyang is receiving military technology assistance from Moscow in exchange.

Yesterday, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un supervised fresh tests of strategic cruise missiles and anti-warship missiles fired from a naval destroyer, according to state media.

The launches took place on Sunday, the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, marking the latest in a recent run of missile tests.

KCNA said two strategic cruise missiles flew for just over two hours each, while the anti-warship missiles remained in flight for 33 minutes.

The missiles travelled “along the flight orbits set in the sky above the West Sea of Korea and struck the targets with ultra-precision hit accuracy”, KCNA reported, using its preferred name for the Yellow Sea.

The tests were conducted from the Choe Hyon, one of two 5,000-ton destroyers in North Korea’s arsenal, both launched last year as Mr Kim pushes to expand the country’s naval strength.

A photograph released by KCNA showed a missile in the early stage of flight after launch from the warship, with an orange flame trailing from its tail.

KCNA said Mr Kim was also briefed on planning for the weapons systems of two additional destroyers under construction, identified only as “Nos. 3 and 4”.

He reportedly “expressed great satisfaction over the fact that the preparedness of our army’s strategic action has been strengthened”.

He also repeated that strengthening the North’s nuclear deterrent remained the “most important priority task”.