South Korea says the North has 4 uranium enrichment facilities to build
nuclear weapons
[September 25, 2025]
By HYUNG-JIN KIM
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A top South Korean official said Thursday that
North Korea is operating a total of four uranium enrichment facilities,
adding to outside assessments that it has multiple covert atomic plants
along with the widely known site near the capital of Pyongyang.
The North's leader Kim Jong Un has called for a rapid expansion of his
country's nuclear weapons program and recently said he would never make
the arms a negotiating point in response to overtures by U.S. President
Donald Trump.
The South’s Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said uranium
enrichment centrifuges at the four facilities — which would include the
known site at Yongbyon, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of
Pyongyang — are running everyday and stressed the urgency to stop the
North’s nuclear program.
Chung did not elaborate further on the location of the other, undeclared
nuclear sites. He spoke about the North with local reporters, according
to his ministry.
A nuclear stockpile
Chung cited an assessment that the North possesses 2,000 kilograms
(about 4,400 pounds) of highly enriched uranium. He first said that was
based on intelligence but the ministry later clarified it was attributed
to civilian experts.
If confirmed, the amount would also signal a sharp increase in North
Korea's stockpile of nuclear material.
In 2018, Stanford University scholars, including nuclear physicist
Siegfried Hecker who had previously visited the Yongbyon complex, said
the North had about 250 to 500 kilograms (550 to 1,100 pounds) of highly
enriched uranium, sufficient for 25 to 30 nuclear devices.
Nuclear weapons can be built using either highly enriched uranium or
plutonium, and North Korea has facilities to produce both at Yongbyon.
Last year, North Korea released photographs of what it said was a
uranium enrichment facility, the first such disclosure since it showed
the one at Yongbyon to Hecker and others in 2010.
The location and other details of the facility in the photographs remain
unknown.
Foreign experts believe North Korea has built additional
uranium-enrichment sites as Kim has been pushing hard to expand his
nuclear arsenal.
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A plutonium plant is typically large and generates much heat, making
it easier for outsiders to detect than a uranium enrichment plant,
which is more compact and can be easily hidden from satellite
cameras. Centrifuges to enrich uranium can be clandestinely operated
underground.
North's atomic bombs
It's almost impossible to independently confirm how many nuclear
weapons North Korea has manufactured, based on nuclear fissile
materials it has produced at Yongbyon and elsewhere.
In 2018, a top South Korean official told parliament that North
Korea was estimated to have already manufactured 20-60 nuclear
weapons, but some experts say the North likely has more than 100.
Estimates of how many nuclear bombs North Korea can add to its
arsenal every year vary, ranging from six to as many as 18.
International diplomacy on ending North Korea's nuclear program has
stalled since 2019, when high-stakes summitry between Kim and Trump
fell apart without any agreement.
At the time, Kim offered to dismantle the Yongbyon complex if he won
extensive sanctions relief. But the American side rejected his
proposal, because it would be a limited denuclearization step that
would leave North Korea’s other, already built nuclear weapons and
nuclear facilities intact.
Kim has since shunned any diplomacy with the U.S. and South Korea
and focused on running weapons tests and perfecting nuclear missiles
that target his rivals.
Since returning to office, Trump has repeatedly expressed hopes of
restarting talks with Kim. Earlier this week, Kim said he still has
good memories of Trump but urged the U.S. to drop its demand that
the North surrender its nuclear arms as a precondition for resuming
long-stalled diplomacy.
Analysts assess that Kim would likely perceive an enlarged nuclear
arsenal as a source of greater leverage in potential talks with the
U.S.
They say that in any potential negotiations, Kim would again seek to
win sweeping sanctions relief and improved ties with the U.S. in
return for a partial surrender of his nuclear and missile programs.
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