A Japanese expert on North Korea says that, by publicizing leader Kim Jong Un’s visit to a uranium enrichment facility, Pyongyang is signaling that it will not agree to participate in denuclearization talks.
North Korea’s state-run TV station aired footage on Friday showing Kim inspecting centrifuges.
The news report stressed that the country is going to boost its capacity to produce nuclear weapons.
This is the first time that North Korea has issued a report about Kim inspecting a uranium enrichment site.
The report did not include information about the location or date of the visit.
It is known that North Korea has uranium enrichment facilities at the Nyongbyon nuclear site and in Kangson, which is near Pyongyang.
Hiraiwa Shunji, who is a professor at Japan’s Nanzan University, says the aim of this latest report by North Korea is to strongly declare to the international community that the country will step up production of nuclear weapons.
Hiraiwa says Pyongyang is also signaling that it wants to be acknowledged by the United States as a de-facto nuclear weapons state. He says the North’s true wish is to bring Washington to the negotiating table to discuss nuclear arms control, not to talk about denuclearization.
The professor added that North Korea is likely to stage weapons tests and training sessions, as it keeps an eye on the US presidential election in November.