US officials say North Korea has continued to enrich uranium and is trying to deceive the US to win concessions.
US intelligence agencies believe North Korea has increased production of fuel for nuclear weapons in recent months and that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is trying to deceive the US in order to extract more concessions, NBC News has reported.
Citing more than a dozen US officials who were familiar with the intelligence assessment, NBC News Saturday reported they disagreed with US President Donald Trump ‘s sentiment that the nuclear threat from North Korea has decreased since he had met Kim.
The officials believe Pyongyang is holding on to its nuclear weapons which «it believes are essential to survival» while «positioning itself to extract every concession it can from the Trump administration», NBC reported.
The latest intelligence assessment reportedly showed that North Korea had upped uranium enrichment while engaging in diplomacy with the US.
One US official told NBC that «there’s no evidence that [North Korea] are decreasing stockpiles, or that they have stopped their production.
«There is absolutely unequivocal evidence that they are trying to deceive the US,» the official reportedly said — an opinion that was held by four more officials who spoke with the US network.
Officials also told NBC the latest intelligence assessment concludes there is more than one secret facility to enrich nuclear material, aside from the disclosed Yongbyon nuclear site.
