North Korea and Iran Make Joint Plans To Establish Uranium Enrichment Facility

North Korea and Iran Make Joint Plans To Establish Uranium Enrichment Facility. March. 10, 2004 22:29. by Hun-Joo Cho hanscho@donga.com.

Sankei Shimbun has reported on March 10 that North Korea and Iran have moved forward to jointly establish a centrifugal separator in order to manufacture nuclear weapons equipped with enriched uranium. Quoting the remarks of a military source in Japanese government, this newspaper reported that North Korea and Iran plan to establish the facility in an underground space near Gusung, North Korea.

Gusung is located 40 kilometers north from Yongbyon, where the existence of nuclear facilities has been corroborated and where concealed nuclear facilities and laboratories are located in mountainous terrain. The National Intelligence Service of Korea has already gathered information that North Korea has conducted approximately 70 times ignition experiments in Gusung, reported Sankei.

“Though a uranium nuclear facility can be more easily concealed than a plutonium type, it needs so much money to manage that North Korea is moving forward with the plan together with Iran,” assessed Sankei, adding, “As for Iran, it seems that they are trying to place their nuclear facility in North Korea because they are afraid of continuing IAEA inspections.”