North Korea has built a new uranium enrichment facility, UN’s nuclear watchdog says

2026 Planet Labs PBC/Handout/Reuters

North Korea has built a new uranium enrichment facility at its main Yongbyon nuclear complex that could house up to 28 centrifuge cascades, and started operating an expanded annex at its Kangson enrichment site, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said.

The Vienna-based nuclear watchdog said in a report the findings pointed to a steady expansion of North Korea’s nuclear infrastructure at multiple locations.

In the report, dated August 28, the IAEA said it relied on satellite imagery and open-source material, including photographs published by North Korean state media, to track Pyongyang’s nuclear activities. The agency has had no inspectors in North Korea since 2009.

It identified a new two-storey building at Yongbyon as the site’s second uranium enrichment facility by comparing state media photographs of a June visit by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un with satellite images taken during the building’s construction.

Photographs from the visit indicate gas centrifuge cascades are installed on both the upper and lower floors of the main building, the report said, adding the building could accommodate up to 28 of the cascades shown in the photographs.

The report also said there were indications that operations began in January at a uranium enrichment facility in Kangson, near the capital Pyongyang, within an annex that had been constructed in 2024.

The IAEA said the developments in North Korea’s nuclear programme violated UN Security Council resolutions.

“The ongoing operation of enrichment facilities at Kangson and Yongbyon and the reported further expansion of the DPRK’s production of weapons-grade nuclear material is a cause for serious concern,” IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said in a statement to the board of governors on Monday, referring to the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

The report accompanied Grossi’s statement.

Pyongyang has repeatedly rejected the agency’s authority. North Korea’s mission to the United Nations in Vienna said last September that North Korea’s status as a nuclear weapons state had become irreversible and the IAEA had “no legal right … to interfere in the internal affairs of a nuclear weapons state which exists outside the NPT”, referring to the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

2026 Planet Labs PBC/Handout/路透社

国际原子能机构（IAEA）表示，朝鲜在其主要的宁边核设施建造了一个新的铀浓缩设施，该设施可容纳多达 28 个离心机级联，并开始运行其江森浓缩设施的扩建附属设施。

总部位于维也纳的核监督机构在一份报告中表示，调查结果表明朝鲜在多个地点的核基础设施正在稳步扩张。

在8月28日发布的报告中，国际原子能机构表示，它依靠卫星图像和公开资料（包括朝鲜官方媒体发布的照片​​）来追踪平壤的核活动。自2009年以来，该机构就没有派驻过核查人员到朝鲜。

通过对比朝鲜领导人金正恩6月视察时官方媒体拍摄的照片与该建筑施工期间拍摄的卫星图像，该机构确认宁边新建的两层建筑是该地的第二个铀浓缩设施。

报告称，此次考察拍摄的照片显示，主楼的上下两层都安装了气体离心机级联装置，并补充说，该建筑最多可容纳照片中显示的 28 个级联装置。

报告还指出，有迹象表明，位于首都平壤附近康森的铀浓缩设施于 2024 年在一座附属建筑内开始运营。

国际原子能机构表示，朝鲜核计划的发展违反了联合国安理会决议。

国际原子能机构总干事拉斐尔·格罗西周一向理事会发表声明称：“康山和宁边浓缩设施的持续运行，以及据报道朝鲜民主主义人民共和国武器级核材料生产进一步扩大，令人严重关切。”他指的是朝鲜的正式名称——朝鲜民主主义人民共和国。

该报告与格罗西的声明一同发布。

平壤方面一再否认国际原子能机构的权威。朝鲜常驻维也纳联合国代表团去年9月表示，朝鲜作为核武器国家的地位已不可逆转，国际原子能机构“没有法律权利……干涉一个不属于《不扩散核武器条约》的核武器国家的内政”。