#North Korea’s nuclear activity still a ‘serious concern’: UN watchdog

Nuclear activities in North Korea remain a cause for “serious concern,” and the rogue totalitarian state continues to enrich uranium, which could be used in an atomic weapon, the UN’s watchdog said in a recent report.

The activities by the country are in “clear violation of relevant UN Security Council resolutions,” the International Atomic Energy Agency wrote in the report that was released Tuesday.

The report also notes that what was once the heart of the country’s nuclear program, the Yongbyon site, has likely been shut down since 2018 — and that no plutonium has been produced there in the past year.

“No operation of the plant that provides the steam necessary for reprocessing activities was observed. Therefore, it is almost certain that no reprocessing activity took place and that the plutonium produced in the 5MW(e) reactor during the most recent operational cycle has not been separated,” the report states.

The agency has not been allowed in the country since the nation expelled them in 2009, but they have been analyzing satellite imagery and using open source information to track North Korea‘s nuclear program.

Still, the information they’re able to get about the program is “declining” because of they’ve been locked out of the hermit nation.

“Knowledge of the DPRK’s nuclear program is limited and, as further nuclear activities take place in the country, this knowledge is declining,” the report states.