Nuclear security

North Korea reactivates nuclear weapons plant, UN says citing satellite imagery

North Korea has apparently reactivated its reactor in Yongbyon, some 90km north of Pyongyang, which is used to reprocess plutonium that could be used in nuclear weapons. It was once central to the North’s atomic weapons drive, a UN watchdog says.

“There are indications the reprocessing plant at Yongbyon has been reactivated,” a spokesman of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Monday, as quoted by Reuters.

The information obtained by the IAEA refers to “activities related to the five-megawatt reactor, expansion of enrichment facilities and activities related to (plutonium) reprocessing,” the IAEA head Yukiya Amano said on the same day during a quarterly IAEA Board of Governors meeting, AFP reported.