For the first time, North Korea has released images of the inside of a uranium enrichment facility that produces material for nuclear weapons.
The pictures show leader Kim Jong Un, who has previously vowed to “exponentially increase” the country’s nuclear arsenal, inspecting the area.
He also called on the uranium facility to increase production, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Friday.
Enriched uranium is an essential material for the production of nuclear warheads.
The photo shows Mr Kim walking past rows of centrifuges and talking to military officials. The release of the photo comes amid heightened tensions on the Korean peninsula.
“[Mr Kim] “He toured the control room of the uranium enrichment facility to learn about the overall operation of the production lines,” KCNA reported, adding that he “felt powerful” while visiting the site.
The South Korean government said it strongly condemned North Korea’s plan to increase production.
It is unclear when Mr Kim made the visit and whether the site was North Korea’s vast Yongbyon nuclear complex, which produces fissile material for Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons.
Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, said North Korea had revealed the facility to “show off its nuclear development and show that its weapons program is irreversible”.
“The Kim regime may also be boasting that it still enjoys diplomatic and economic support from Russia and China, despite its nuclear build-up,” Mr Easley told the BBC.
Hong Min, a senior analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, told AFP the photos could be a “message” ahead of the upcoming US presidential election, aimed at showing the next administration that “denuclearization of North Korea is impossible”.
“This is also a message asking other countries to recognize North Korea as a nuclear state,” Mr. Hong said.
South Korea’s Unification Ministry condemned North Korea for making the facility public, saying the illegal deployment of nuclear weapons violates several resolutions adopted by the United Nations Security Council.
“Any nuclear threat or provocation from North Korea will face a strong and overwhelming response from our government and military, based on the solid extended deterrence of the South Korea-US alliance,” the Unification Ministry said.
It is not known how many nuclear weapons North Korea has, but one recent estimate puts the number at 50, with enough material to produce 40 more.
