Kim Jong Un on Wednesday toured a new factory producing weapons-grade nuclear material and said North Korea plans to “drastically increase our nuclear forces,” state media reported.
North Korea’s leader said the country has more than doubled its production capacity for weapons-grade nuclear material in the past five years, and the new factory will help strengthen its nuclear war deterrence, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.
Kim announced his push to build up nuclear weapons based on a five-year plan implemented after denuclearization negotiations with the United States, including three meetings with US President Donald Trump during his first term, failed.
News of North Korea’s new nuclear power plant comes as the United States seeks to end the months-long US-Israel war with Iran and strike a deal that would force Iran to give up nuclear material that could be developed into nuclear weapons.
North Korea already has nuclear material equivalent to up to 90 warheads and is believed to have assembled about 50, according to a March report from the Congressional Research Service.
The International Atomic Energy Agency reported in March that North Korea operates at least two nuclear enrichment plants in Yongbyon and Gangchon.
The agency said it was overseeing the construction of a new building in Yongbyon “with similar scale and infrastructure, including power supply and cooling capacity, as the Gangchon enrichment facility.”
The IAEA report said: “The new building is externally complete and internal fitting is likely to be underway.”
In testimony before the U.S. House Armed Services Committee in April, Director of Defense Intelligence Lt. Gen. James Adams said North Korea “may construct an additional uranium enrichment facility at Yongbyon.”
It was not clear whether the facility Kim toured Wednesday was a new facility in Yongbyon or another previously unknown factory. The location was not disclosed in the Korean Central News Agency report.
This is at least the third time since September 2024 that state media has published photos of Kim touring a uranium enrichment and nuclear material production facility.
Monitoring group warns of North Korea’s rapid nuclear expansion
A Korean Central News Agency report on Thursday said the new nuclear power plant had “more sophisticated technology” and that images provided by North Korea showed Kim walking between rows of centrifuges.
Hong Min, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for Unification in Seoul, told CNN that the new facility reveals the maturity and expansion of North Korea’s nuclear program.
Because Kim was accompanied by officials from the military industry and the nuclear weapons research institute, the report “gives the impression that the center of gravity has shifted from ‘research and production’ to ‘mass production and weapons,'” Hong said.
He also said that North Korea is “deliberately emphasizing the operational aspect of the completed factory” by releasing various photos showing control rooms, processing pipes, module zones, etc.
The emphasis on production facilities over more flashy weapons tests and large military parades indicates that North Korea now projects it has the infrastructure to accomplish its plans to field a robust nuclear deterrent.
In addition to building its nuclear enrichment capabilities, North Korea has tested a variety of missiles over the past few years, including successfully testing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that can strike anywhere in the United States, according to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s 2026 Annual Threat Assessment.
Kim on Wednesday praised the country’s nuclear scientists for achieving the goals of the five-year plan, saying its nuclear potential was “unimaginable.”
North Korea’s elevation to nuclear power status has been cited as President Trump’s attempt to prevent duplication with Iran’s Operation Epic Fury.
Trump’s critics counter that his first administration abandoned an Obama-era agreement to monitor Iran’s nuclear enrichment program and is now seeking a similar deal after a three-month war failed to change the regime or destroy Tehran’s nuclear program.
According to the 2026 edition of the Nuclear Weapons Prohibition Monitor, North Korea’s growing nuclear arsenal represents a global trend.
“The number of nuclear warheads available to the militaries of the world’s nine nuclear-weapon states has increased to 9,745, with a combined explosive power equivalent to more than 135,000 Hiroshima-type atomic bombs,” the group said.
According to the report, 2025 marks the ninth consecutive year that the number of deployable nuclear weapons will increase.
Russia has the most nuclear weapons, with more than 5,400, followed by the United States, with about 5,300.
