Suspected North Korea Nuclear Site Is Being Expanded, Experts Warn

Nuclear concerns about North Korea are rising again, based on construction near the capital.

Knewz.com has learned about a “new annex” going up at a suspected site for enriching uranium.

Containers of low-enriched uranium in Kazakhstan. By: MEGA

The NK News website analyzed recent satellite photos of the Kangson site Tuesday, March 26. It concluded an expansion at the back of the facility began in February.

“The newly covered area is around 22% the size of the existing… main building,” its report said, or an annex of about 10,760 square feet. A blue roof was put on the addition during the week of March 17-23.

Beyond that, the construction turns to speculation.

“It could be related to increasing floor space for centrifuges if the construction involves knocking down outer walls,” the report said.

Kangson is called “an alleged clandestine uranium enrichment facility” by a United Nations agency in a new report. That was based on recent truck activity outside the complex.

Newsweek reports United States intelligence agents have tracked activities there since at least 2008.

North Korea never has confirmed what’s happening at Kangson, located about five miles west of Pyongyang.

But North Korean leader Kim Jong Un openly has called for this sort of expansion. He called in December 2023 for “steadily increasing the number of nuclear weapons.”

North Korea leader Kim Jong Un wants nuclear expansion. By: MEGA

Three months earlier, Kim endorsed a weapons production increase to“realize all kinds of nuclear strike methods and deploy them to various military branches.”

North Korea is thought to have two nuclear centrifuge locations. The other is Yongbyon, which had its own expansions in 2013 and 2021.

But the U.S. and South Korea are doing more than watching the North. They’re taking new action.

South Korea’s Foreign Ministry announced Wednesday, March 27 that it has started an “Enhanced Disruption Task Force” to hinder North Korea from obtaining money and resources for its nuclear program.

According to Korea Joongang News, the first meeting in Washington focused on how to give life to U.N. sanctions. One possibility involves oil and gas restrictions.

The U.S. and South Korea want to block excess North Korean oil imports. By: MEGA

A 2017 Security Council resolution limits the North to four million barrels of crude oil per year, as well as 500,000 barrels of refined petroleum.

But a recent U.N. report admits North Korea has dodged the sanctions by creating illegal networks for oil trading, perhaps through Russia.

Refined petroleum imports in the first nine months of 2023 were three times over the limit.

The Dhaka Tribune adds North Korea may have stolen $3 billion between 2017-2023 through cyberattacks on companies involved with cryptocurrency.

North Korea reportedly has stolen billions of dollars from cryptocurrency firms. By: Kanchanara/Unsplash

RadarOnline noted in a 2023 book, former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly said Donald Trump once proposed firing a nuclear weapon at North Korea.

But Trump never did that as president, and wound up meeting Kim in North Korea.