[Screenshot image captured from 38North.org]
Recent satellite images have shown "suspicious activity" at North Korea's nuclear site which could mean reprocessing is under way to produce more weapons-grade plutonium, according to 38 North, the website of a US research institute.
North Korea has built various nuclear facilities at its main nuclear complex in Yongbyon, including a reprocessing lab and a five-megawatt reactor which has been used to acquire plutonium.
In the past five weeks, exhaust plumes from a steam plant used to heat the main plant had been detected on two or three occasions at the reprocessing facility, 38 North said.
"This activity is unusual since exhaust plumes have rarely been seen there and none has been observed on any examined imagery this past winter," it said.
"The plumes suggest that the operators of the reprocessing facility are heating their buildings, perhaps indicating that some significant activity is being undertaken, or will be in the near future."
It is unclear whether such an activity is related to an additional separation of plutonium, but James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence, has stated that Pyongyang could be ready to do so in weeks or months, 38 North said.
North Korea's nuclear and long-range rocket tests this year triggered tough UN sanctions, but its leader Kim Jong-un has vowed to step up the development of atomic bombs, ordering nuclear weapons to be ready for use at any time.
Kim has also vowed to launch more rockets capable of carrying nuclear warheads, saying North Korea has acquired re-entry technology, despite doubts about its ability to miniaturize a nuclear warhead to be mounted on an intercontinental ballistic missile.
38 North also said there was evidence of "continued activity" in the first three months of this year at the five-megawatt reactor, with vehicles being moved around.
"One possibility is continued maintenance. This activity appears to indicate that the reactor is being worked on, perhaps to bring it back into service," it said. The reactor was once mothballed under a deal between Pyongyang and Washington, but North Korea has reactivated it.
Recent imagery also showed "a continued high level of activity" at North Korea's uranium enrichment complex where new buildings are under construction, 38 North said, adding there are at least three, possibly four, additional buildings in the early stage of construction.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
