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(Bloomberg) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has unveiled what state media described as a new nuclear materials production facility as he pushes to expand the country’s nuclear arsenal, amid reports China’s president may travel to Pyongyang in coming weeks.
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Kim visited a “newly inaugurated nuclear materials production factory” on Wednesday, the official Korean Central News Agency said, without disclosing the location.
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Photos released by KCNA showed Kim inspecting what appeared to be a uranium enrichment facility. Analysts said it may be a new factory within the country’s Yongbyon complex.
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The report comes as the Trump administration tries to keep peace talks with Tehran on track even as the US and Iran traded small-scale strikes over the past few days in their most serious flare-up since a ceasefire took effect in April. Tensions in the Middle East have prompted the US to shift some military assets to that region from the Asia-Pacific in recent months.
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The disclosure also comes amid speculation that Chinese President Xi Jinping may visit Pyongyang. When Xi last visited North Korea in 2019, the Chinese president told Kim the world wanted him to make progress in nuclear talks with the US.
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Donald Trump and Kim met three times during the US president’s first term, but that engagement failed to persuade the North Korean leader to scale back his nuclear program.
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According to the KCNA dispatch, Kim said North Korea’s “weapons-grade nuclear materials production capacity more than doubled” in the past five years, and he rolled out “action guidelines” for further accelerating the “qualitative and quantitative strengthening of” its nuclear force. It did not elaborate on details of the guidelines.
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Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, warned earlier this year that North Korea has significantly increased its capacity to produce nuclear weapons, and has intensified activity across key facilities.
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“With Iran’s nuclear ambitions effectively being curtailed, North Korea appears determined to emphasize that it is already a de facto nuclear-armed state,” said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
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