North Korea is showing a “very serious increase” in its ability to produce atomic weapons, according to Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The diplomatically isolated country is believed to operate multiple facilities for enriching uranium, a key step in making nuclear warheads, South Korea’s spy agency has said. These include one at the Yongbyon nuclear site, which Pyongyang purportedly decommissioned after talks but later reactivated in 2021.
“In our periodic assessments, we have been able to confirm that there’s a rapid increase in the operations” of the Yongbyon reactor, Grossi told reporters in Seoul on Wednesday.
The agency also observed a rise in operations at Yongbyon’s reprocessing unit and light-water reactor, as well as the activation of other facilities, Grossi said.
“All that points to a very serious increase in the capabilities of [the] DPRK in the area of nuclear weapons production, which is estimated at a few dozen warheads,” he said, using North Korea’s official name.
