Kim Jong Un Points To 'Most Ferocious Enemies' As North Korea Unveils New Nuclear Fuel Production Plant

(MENAFN- Live Mint) North Korea unveiled on Thursday, June 4, a new fuel production facility for nuclear arsenal with leader Kim Jong Un pointed towards the“most ferocious enemies” – an apparent reference to the US and South Korea – and also announced the plans to bolster the country's nuclear forces“at an exponential rate.” The location of the new nuclear fuel production plant remains undisclosed.

While it is yet to be confirmed whether North Korea has functioning nuclear missiles that can reach the US mainland, the unveiling of the plant implies that the North Korean leader wants to cement his country's status as a nuclear power.

Beefing up North Korea's nuclear arsenal

Kim Jong Un also visited the nuclear fuel production plant and confirmed“the order of priority for implementing the ambitious future plan designed to beef up our state's nuclear forces at an exponential rate.”

He pointed at the urgency to bolster North Korea as a nuclear state because of confrontations with“the most ferocious enemies”.

The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the facility used“more sophisticated technology” but didn't provide further details like its location. Photos released by KCNA showed Kim inspecting what appeared to be a uranium enrichment facility. Analysts said it may be a new factory within the country's Yongbyon complex.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff assessed the site as a uranium enrichment plant and said it was closely coordinating with the United States to monitor North Korean nuclear activities.

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The disclosure also comes amid speculation that Chinese President Xi Jinping may visit Pyongyang. When Xi last visited North Korea in 2019, the Chinese president told Kim the world wanted him to make progress in nuclear talks with the US.

Donald Trump and Kim met three times during the US president's first term, but that engagement failed to persuade the North Korean leader to scale back his nuclear program.

According to the KCNA dispatch, Kim said North Korea's“weapons-grade nuclear materials production capacity more than doubled” in the past five years, and he rolled out“action guidelines” for further accelerating the“qualitative and quantitative strengthening of” its nuclear force. It did not elaborate on details of the guidelines.

Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, warned earlier this year that North Korea has significantly increased its capacity to produce nuclear weapons, and has intensified activity across key facilities.

The report also comes as the Trump administration tries to keep peace talks with Tehran on track even as the US and Iran traded small-scale strikes over the past few days in their most serious flare-up since a ceasefire took effect in April. Tensions in West Asia have prompted the US to shift some military assets to that region from the Asia-Pacific in recent months.

“With Iran's nuclear ambitions effectively being curtailed, North Korea appears determined to emphasize that it is already a de facto nuclear-armed state,” said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.

- With inputs from Bloomberg

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