Infrastructure improvements continuing at ‘rapid pace’ as Trump admin prepares denuclearization timeline
Commercial satellite imagery indicates North Korea is continuing to upgrade its nuclear reactor.
The images, captured on June 21 and published by monitoring group 38 North, show “rapid” infrastructure improvements at North Korea’s Yongbyon Nuclear Research Facility.
Among the changes, alterations have been made to the site’s plutonium production reactor, used to create fuel for Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons.
“Modifications to North Korea’s 5 MWe reactor’s secondary cooling loop, which began in March, appear externally complete,” 38 North writes. “A newly in-filled water channel (that includes a newly installed probable weir for controlling water flow) now leads to the pump house from the Kuryong River.”
Numerous buildings have also been finished near the reactor’s cooling tower, the Radiochemical Laboratory and the Radioisotope Production Facility.
“The status of the Radiochemical Laboratory—used to separate plutonium from spent fuel rods—remains uncertain, although the associated Thermal Plant has likely continued operations, and a small non-industrial building of an unknown purpose has been newly erected near the cooling tower,” 38 North adds. “Construction continues on support facilities throughout other operational areas of Yongbyon, especially at the Experimental Light Water Reactor (ELWR), where the new engineering office building appears externally complete and a small building similar to the one observed at the Radiochemical Laboratory has been erected.”
While the new additions follow a pledge made by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to work towards the “denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula” at his summit with U. S President Donald Trump in Singapore, 38 North’s analysts caution against linking the two just yet.
“Continued work at the Yongbyon facility should not be seen as having any relationship to North Korea’s pledge to denuclearize,” 38 North says. “The North’s nuclear cadre can be expected to proceed with business as usual until specific orders are issued from Pyongyang.”
The Trump administration is in the process of preparing “specific asks” and “a specific timeline” for denuclearization in an attempt to determine whether North Korea is operating in good faith.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said earlier this month that the U. S. is hoping for “major” North Korean disarmament within the next 2.5 years.
Experts, including Professor Siegfried Hecker, the former director of the Los Alamos weapons laboratory and the only American to be granted access to North Korea’s nuclear facilities numerous times, estimate full disarmament under a phased process could take 15 years.
“We’re talking about dozens of sites, hundreds of buildings, and thousands of people,” Hecker said last month.
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