N Korea’s N-strength growing in isolation
28 Oct 2013 5:55 AM IST
If the international community’s main goal is to push North Korea towards denuclearisation, does the fact that Pyongyang is racing in precisely the opposite direction suggest a fundamental policy failure?
The question has taken on added urgency following a succession of monthly warnings sounded by satellite imagery analysis that the North’s nuclear weapons programme is gathering pace.
In August, images suggested the North had doubled its uranium enrichment capacity at its Yongbyon nuclear complex.
In September, they indicated that the plutonium reactor that provided the fissile material for at least two of its three nuclear tests had been re-started, and just last week they pointed to preparatory work for another detonation at its nuclear test site.
‘Pyongyang is moving ahead on all nuclear fronts,’ believes US nuclear scientist Siegfried Hecker.
Since coming to power, Kim Jong-Un has overseen a successful long-range rocket launch and the North’s third - and largest - nuclear test.
The question has taken on added urgency following a succession of monthly warnings sounded by satellite imagery analysis that the North’s nuclear weapons programme is gathering pace.
In August, images suggested the North had doubled its uranium enrichment capacity at its Yongbyon nuclear complex.
In September, they indicated that the plutonium reactor that provided the fissile material for at least two of its three nuclear tests had been re-started, and just last week they pointed to preparatory work for another detonation at its nuclear test site.
‘Pyongyang is moving ahead on all nuclear fronts,’ believes US nuclear scientist Siegfried Hecker.
Since coming to power, Kim Jong-Un has overseen a successful long-range rocket launch and the North’s third - and largest - nuclear test.
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