North Korea adds new uranium enrichment plant at Yongbyon and expands Kangson site
The IAEA reports that North Korea has completed a second uranium enrichment facility at Yongbyon, capable of holding up to 28 centrifuge cascades, and has begun operations at an expanded annex in Kangson.
Using satellite imagery and publicly released photographs, the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that North Korea has built a second uranium enrichment facility at the Yongbyon complex, a two-storey structure that can accommodate up to 28 gas-centrifuge cascades on its upper and lower levels. The agency also detected that operations began in January at a newly expanded annex of the Kangson enrichment site, which was constructed in 2024.
These moves represent a continued expansion of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s nuclear infrastructure across multiple locations. The IAEA said the activities violate several United Nations Security Council resolutions and expressed serious concern, as reiterated by Director General Rafael Grossi. Pyongyang’s mission to the United Nations in Vienna reiterated that the country’s nuclear weapons status is irreversible and that the agency has no legal right to intervene in what it calls an internal matter of a nuclear-armed state outside the NPT.
