North Korea has released the first-ever photos of a uranium enrichment facility, showing leader Kim Jong Un touring it as he called for more centrifuges to boost his country’s nuclear weapons arsenal.
Pyongyang, which is facing a slew of United Nations sanctions for pursuing its banned weapons programmes, has previously never publicly disclosed details of its uranium enrichment facility since its first nuclear test in 2006.
Kim toured the Nuclear Weapons Institute and the “production base of weapon-grade nuclear materials,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Friday.
The photos showed Kim walking between long rows of metal centrifuges but it did not say when he visited the location.
Such facilities produce highly enriched uranium, which is needed to manufacture nuclear warheads, by spinning the material in centrifuges at high speeds.
It was unclear where the facility is located, but North Korea is believed to operate multiple uranium enrichment facilities, including one at its Yongbyon nuclear site.
During the visit, KCNA reported that the North Korean leader “stressed the need to further augment the number of centrifuges in order to exponentially increase the nuclear weapons for self-defence”.
Reporting from the South Korean capital, Seoul, Al Jazeera’s Rob McBride said this was the first time that Pyongyang revealed in such detail the “inner workings of its uranium enrichment facility”.
“This comes as North Korea continues its active development of its nuclear arms capabilities in spite of the international sanctions as well as objections from South Korea.
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