(CNN) – New images of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un touring what state media said is a uranium enrichment facility have given an extremely rare glimpse into the isolated nation’s heavily guarded nuclear weapons program.
According to a Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) report published Friday, Kim visited the facility, a bright, sterile warehouse filled with long rows of cylindrical machinery, which is allegedly used to produce weapons-grade nuclear material for the growing Northern arsenal.
The report comes as North Korea steps up its illegal nuclear weapons program and strengthens relations with Russia, deepening widespread concern in the West about the direction of the isolated nation under Kim.
The location and exact date of Kim’s visit to the site were not revealed in the report, but the purpose of his inspection was clear, according to KCNA: to establish a “long-term plan to increase the production of weapons-grade nuclear materials.” .
Experts say the images, which show Kim flanked by men in military uniforms and white lab shirts, underscore North Korea’s growing confidence in its position as a nuclear power.
“Kim is exceptionally confident these days and is particularly interested in making sure that his calls for a massive increase in nuclear capabilities are not misinterpreted,” said Ankit Panda, Stanton senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, adding that “These revelations lend credibility to North Korea’s plans and demonstrate that they have made great progress in their enrichment capabilities.”
It’s a topic the North Korean leader has touched on frequently in recent years, including this week.
In a speech celebrating the 76th anniversary of North Korea’s founding on Monday, Kim vowed to “exponentially” expand the regime’s nuclear arsenal, reiterating the bellicose rhetoric he has used in the past.
During his visit to the supposed enrichment facility, Kim repeatedly expressed satisfaction with the technical capabilities of North Korea’s nuclear sector and emphasized the need to increase the number of centrifuges for greater production, according to state media.
Park Won-gon, a professor of North Korean Studies at Ewha Women’s University in Seoul, said the timing of the revelation is also important.
“By showing highly enriched uranium and production facilities, they are sending a message that the world must recognize North Korea as a nuclear state. By revealing these facilities, Kim Jong Un is saying that the denuclearization of North Korea is unrealistic,” he told CNN.
However, that position is unlikely to be accepted by the US and its allies in the region.
In an interview with CNN on Tuesday, former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien said the United States and its partners should continue working on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
The former Trump administration official added that it would be difficult for the US to accept North Korea as a nuclear power even if Pyongyang stopped building new nuclear weapons. Such an agreement, he argued, could contribute to broader nuclear proliferation.
“If you excuse the North Koreans and say, ‘It’s okay for North Korea to have a bomb,’ it will be quite difficult later to say, ‘Well, no, Iran can’t have a bomb, and Saudi Arabia can’t have a bomb to deter Iran,’” O’Brien said.
“It cannot be that the bad guys can get the bomb with impunity.” she added.
The carefully released images of the uranium enrichment facility come at a time of heightened tensions between North Korea and the West, with the US and its allies accusing Pyongyang of providing substantial military aid to Russia’s war effort in Ukraine. Both Moscow and Pyongyang have denied North Korean arms exports, despite significant evidence of such transfers.
In June, the two autocratic nations pledged to use all available means to provide immediate military assistance should the other come under attack, according to a historic defense pact agreed during a visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to Pyongyang.
Since the location of this facility was not revealed in the KCNA report, it is unclear whether the images are from a site already known to international observers, such as the Yongbyon nuclear research facility, or something entirely new. North Korea is believed to have several uranium enrichment sites.
“I’m not sure we can establish the site from the images,” said Martyn Williams, a senior researcher at the Stimson Center, “but it’s certainly the first time we’ve seen this configuration and at this level of detail.”
