North Korea appears to be intensifying nuclear and ballistic missile development efforts that could lead to further international sanctions against the Kim Jong Un regime.
North Korea’s state controlled media KCNA said on Tuesday that the country’s main nuclear complex in Yongbyon was in full operation. The reactor was shut down in 2007. However, following North Korea’s third nuclear test in 2013, Pyongyang said it would restart the facility.
Some military analysts studying satellite images of the complex, asserted back in January that the nuclear bomb fuel reactor was again operational. But until now, there had not been any official confirmation.
North Korea’s National Aerospace Development Administration indicated on Monday that it is preparing for a possible satellite launch that would likely utilise ballistic missile technology
“The world will clearly see a series of satellites of [North] Korea, soaring into the sky at the times and locations determined by the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea,” KCNA reported.
Outside analysts have speculated that North Korea has been planning a long-range rocket launch, possibly in October, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the ruling party.
North Korea maintains that such launches are for peaceful, non-military purposes. But the United States and its allies say they are mainly aimed at developing long-range ballistic missile technology, which is banned under United Nations Security Council resolutions.
The announced nuclear enrichment and rocket launching developments, come weeks after a border incident threatened a major conventional military conflict between the two Koreas. Emergency high level inter-Korean talks resolved the standoff and both sides promised to hold reunions for families separated since the Korean War divided the peninsula in 1950, and to pursue further talks to reduce regional tensions.
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