‘NK Has Built Uranium Enrichment Facilities’

South Korean and U.S. intelligence have discovered that North Korea has built facilities that can produce a small amount of highly enriched uranium, a senior Seoul official said yesterday.

“Despite North Korea’s denial that it has a uranium enrichment program, (South Korea and the United States) have shared information that North Korea has established uranium enrichment facilities,” the source said.

The underground facilities are known to be located in Sowi-ri, North Pyongan Province.

Sowi-ri is an administrative district of Yongbyon, North Pyongan Province, where plutonium facilities including a five-megawatt and a 50-megawatt reactor and reprocessing facilities are located.

The North is believed to have set up underground facilities to enrich uranium nearby its Yongbyon facilities in Punkang-ri.

The official, however, declined to mention details, including North Korea’s technological progress in enriching uranium and its uranium output.