The North Korean regime has reactivated its nuclear facilities

North Korea has returned nuclear reactor and nuclear fuel reprocessing facilities to service this year, according to a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which qualifies these activities as “deeply worrying”.

According to the document, released today, since the beginning of July “there have been indications, including the release of cooling water, compatible with the operation of the experimental reactor” of 5 megawatts of electricity at the Yongbyon Nuclear Research Center, about 100 kilometers from the north of Pyonyang.

North Korea obtains fuel for nuclear devices it has tested to date from Yongbyon facility, to which the UN nuclear body does not have access.

The IAEA points out that between December 2018, when Pyongyang was preparing to open diplomatic negotiations with Washington, and at the beginning of last July, it had detected no sign of commissioning of the fission unit.

The report, based on analysis of satellite images and other information, adds that the Yongbyon Radiochemical Laboratory’s steam plant – responsible for reprocessing fuel used in the reactor to obtain plutonium for atomic bombs – is operational. since mid-February. this year until early July.

“This five-month period is consistent with the time required to reprocess a full core of spent fuel from the reactor.” of the complex, as the agency explains on the basis of information provided in the early 1990s by the North Korean regime.

The IAEA considers that the activities of the North Korean nuclear program “are very worrying” and recalls that they constitute a “manifest violation” of UN Security Council resolutions. against Pyonyang for its development of weapons of mass destruction.

The new report, presented to the IAEA Board of Directors last Friday, is made public after the regime decided to cut off communications with Seoul again this month due to the holding of joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States in the south of the peninsula.

At a time, last week, Washington again insisted on its willingness to meet with Pyonyang “where and when” to resume denuclearization talks without obtaining a North Korean response for the moment.

Disarmament talks have stalled since the failure of the Hanoi summit in February 2019.

(With information from EFE)

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