South Korea says North operates four uranium enrichment facilities

SEOUL — A top South Korean official said Thursday that North Korea is operating a total of four uranium enrichment facilities, in addition to the Yongbyon complex about 100 kilometers north of Pyongyang. Unification Minister Chung Dong-young told reporters that centrifuges at the four facilities are running every day and stressed the urgency to stop the North’s nuclear program. He did not elaborate on the location of other undeclared sites.

Chung cited an assessment that the North possesses about 2,000 kilograms (roughly 4,400 pounds) of highly enriched uranium. The ministry later clarified that figure came from civilian experts, not intelligence alone. If confirmed, the amount would signal a sharp expansion of North Korea’s stockpile of fissile material and imply the potential for a greater number of nuclear devices than previously estimated.

Experts say uranium enrichment plants are typically smaller, can be operated underground, and can be easier to hide than large plutonium reactors. North Korea maintains a plutonium-producing facility at Yongbyon, a distinction that complicates outside assessments of the overall arsenal. Nuclear weapons can be built from either highly enriched uranium or plutonium, and North Korea has facilities to produce both at Yongbyon.

Last year, North Korea released photographs it described as showing a uranium enrichment facility, the first such disclosure since its Yongbyon complex was shown to researchers in 2010. The location and other details of the facility in the photographs remain unknown, and foreign experts say the North has likely built additional enrichment sites in the years since.

Beyond the physical facilities, analysts say the North’s leadership under Kim Jong Un has pushed for a rapid expansion of its nuclear arsenal. Kim has repeatedly signaled he will not surrender his nuclear weapons as a precondition for sanctions relief, and diplomacy with the United States and South Korea has sputtered since the collapses of summits in 2019. In recent months, President Donald Trump has voiced interest in restarting talks, while North Korea has pressed for broader sanctions relief and improved ties in any negotiations.

Analysts say that, from Kim’s perspective, a larger stockpile would give him greater leverage in potential talks with Washington. Any negotiations would likely involve concessions that include partial denuclearization in exchange for sanctions relief and diplomatic normalization, while Pyongyang would retain its existing weapons and most of its other facilities.

Whether the reported four enrichment sites and the HEU stockpile are accurate remains a matter for independent verification. Despite calls for restraint, the disclosures underscore the ongoing challenge for international diplomacy aimed at ending North Korea’s nuclear program, a process that has been stalled for years as tensions persist in the region.