N Korea boosting ability to make nuclear arms: Grossi

FE Team | Published: April 15, 2026 23:59:17

The destroyer Choe Hyon fires a missile in North Korea recently — EPA

SEOUL, Apr 15 (AFP): North Korea is showing a "very serious increase" in its ability to produce atomic weapons, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog said during a visit to Seoul on Wednesday.
Diplomatically isolated North Korea is believed to operate multiple facilities for enriching uranium, a key step in making nuclear warheads, South Korea's spy agency has said.
That includes 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, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi said in Seoul, where he met South Korea's foreign minister.
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 told reporters.
"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, referring to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name.
North Korea, which conducted its first nuclear test in 2006, is under rafts of UN sanctions for its banned weapons programmes.
It has declared that it will never surrender its nuclear weapons, and cut off access to IAEA inspectors in 2009.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw new tests of strategic cruise missiles and anti-warship missiles launched from a naval destroyer, state media reported Tuesday.
The weapons tests occurred on Sunday, the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, and are the latest in a string of recent missile launches by the nuclear-armed nation.
Two strategic cruise missiles each flew for around 7,900 seconds -- or over two hours -- according to KCNA, while the anti-warship missiles flew for nearly 2,000 seconds (33 minutes).
The missiles flew "along the flight orbits set in the sky above the West Sea of Korea and struck the targets with ultra-precision hit accuracy", KCNA said, using its preferred name for the Yellow Sea.
The tests were carried out from the Choe Hyon, one of two 5,000-ton destroyers in the North's arsenal, both launched last year as Kim seeks to ramp up the country's naval capabilities.
A photo released by KCNA shows a missile in its initial flight stage after being launched from the warship, with an orange flame trailing from its tail. Another image shows Kim watching the test-fire from a distance, flanked by naval officials.
KCNA said that Kim was also briefed Tuesday on planning for the weapon systems of two more destroyers under construction and that he "made an important conclusion".