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North Korea discloses a uranium enrichment facility as Kim calls for more nuclear weapons

North Korea discloses a uranium enrichment facility as Kim calls for more nuclear weapons
It’s unclear if the site is its previously known nuclear-enrichment site in Yongbyon, north of Pyongyang, or another that was undisclosed until now. (REUTERS)
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Updated 13 September 2024

North Korea discloses a uranium enrichment facility as Kim calls for more nuclear weapons

North Korea discloses a uranium enrichment facility as Kim calls for more nuclear weapons
  • It’s unclear if the site is its previously known nuclear-enrichment site in Yongbyon, north of Pyongyang, or another that was undisclosed until now

SEOUL: North Korea offered a rare glimpse into a secretive facility to produce weapons-grade uranium as state media reported Friday that leader Kim Jong Un visited the area and called for stronger efforts to “exponentially” increase the number of his nuclear weapons.
It’s unclear if the site is at the North’s main Yongbyon nuclear complex, but it’s the North’s first disclosure of a uranium-enrichment facility since it showed one at Yongbyon to visiting American scholars in 2010. While the latest unveiling is likely an attempt to apply more pressure on the US and its allies, the images North Korea’s media released of the area could provide outsiders with a valuable source of information for estimating the amount of nuclear ingredients that North Korea has produced.
During a visit to the Nuclear Weapons Institute and the production base of weapon-grade nuclear materials, Kim expressed “great satisfaction repeatedly over the wonderful technical force of the nuclear power field” held by North Korea, the official Korean Central News Agency reported.
KCNA said that Kim went around the control room of the uranium enrichment base and a construction site that would expand its capacity for producing nuclear weapons. North Korean state media photos showed Kim being briefed by scientists while walking along long lines of tall gray tubes, but KCNA didn’t say when Kim visited the facilities and where they are located.
KCNA said Kim stressed the need to further augment the number of centrifuges to “exponentially increase the nuclear weapons for self-defense,” a goal he has repeatedly stated in recent years. It said Kim ordered officials to push forward the introduction of a new-type centrifuge, which has reached its completion stage.
Kim said North Korea needs greater defense and preemptive attack capabilities because “anti-(North Korea) nuclear threats perpetrated by the US imperialists-led vassal forces have become more undisguised and crossed the red-line,” KCNA said.
South Korea’s Unification Ministry said it strongly condemned North Korea’s unveiling of a uranium-enrichment facility and Kim’s vows to boost his country’s nuclear capability. A ministry statement said North Korea’s “illegal” pursuit of nuclear weapons in defiance of UN bans is a serious threat to international peace. It said North Korea must realize it cannot win anything with its nuclear program.
North Korea first showed a uranium enrichment site in Yongbyon to the outside world in November 2010, when it allowed a visiting delegation of Stanford University scholars led by nuclear physicist, Siegfried Hecker, to tour its centrifuges. North Korean officials then reportedly told Hecker that 2,000 centrifuges were already installed and running at Yongbyon.
Satellite images in recent years have indicated North Korea was expanding a uranium enrichment plant at its Yongbyon nuclear complex. Nuclear weapons can be built using either highly enriched uranium or plutonium, and North Korea has facilities to produce both at Yongbyon. It’s not clear exactly how much weapons-grade plutonium or highly enriched uranium has been produced at Yongbyon and where North Korea stores it.
“For analysts outside the country, the released images will provide a valuable source of information for rectifying our assumptions about how much material North Korea may have amassed to date,” said Ankit Panda, an expert with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
“Overall, we should not assume that North Korea will be as constrained as it once was by fissile material limitations. This is especially true for highly enriched uranium, where North Korea is significantly less constrained in its ability to scale up than it is with plutonium,” Panda said.
In 2018, Hecker and Stanford University scholars estimated North Korea’s highly enriched uranium inventory was 250 to 500 kilograms (550 to 1,100 pounds), sufficient for 25 to 30 nuclear devices.
The North Korean photos released Friday showed about 1,000 centrifuges. When operated year-round, they would be able to produce around 20 to 25 kilograms (44 to 55 pounds) of highly enriched uranium, which would be enough to create a single bomb, according to Yang Uk, a security expert at Seoul’s Asan Institute for Policy Studies.
The new-type centrifuge Kim wants to introduce is likely an advanced carbon fiber-based one that could allow North Korea to produce five to 10 times more highly enriched uranium than its existing ones, said Lee Choon Geun, an honorary research fellow at South Korea’s Science and Technology Policy Institute.
Some US and South Korean experts speculate North Korea is covertly running at least one other uranium-enrichment plant. In 2018, a top South Korean official told parliament that North Korea was estimated to have already manufactured up to 60 nuclear weapons. Estimates on how many nuclear bombs North Korea can add every year vary, ranging from six to as much as 18.
Since 2022, North Korea has sharply ramped up weapons testing activities to expand and modernize its arsenal of nuclear missiles targeting the US and South Korea. Analysts say North Korea could perform nuclear test explosions or long-range missile tests ahead of the US presidential election in November with the intent to influence the outcome and increase its leverage in future dealings with the Americans.
“Overall, the message they are trying to send is that their nuclear capability is not just an empty threat, but that they are continuing to produce (bomb fuel),” Yang said. “And who are they speaking to? It could obviously be South Korea but also certainly the United States.”
North Korea had conducted test-launches of multiple short-range ballistic missiles on Thursday. In an apparent reference to those launches, KCNA said Kim had supervised test-firing of nuclear-capable 600mm multiple rockets to examine the performance of their new launch vehicles.


Russia bombards Kyiv before ‘frank’ talks with US and aid pledges

Russia bombards Kyiv before ‘frank’ talks with US and aid pledges
Updated 25 sec ago

Russia bombards Kyiv before ‘frank’ talks with US and aid pledges

Russia bombards Kyiv before ‘frank’ talks with US and aid pledges
  • Rubio meets Lavrov in Malaysia, voices frustration

KYIV/ROME: Russia unleashed heavy airstrikes on Ukraine on Thursday before a conference in Rome at which Kyiv won billions of dollars in aid pledges, and US-Russian talks at which Washington voiced frustration with Moscow over the war.
Two people were killed, 26 were wounded, according to figures from the national emergency services, and there was damage in nearly every part of Kyiv from missile and drone attacks on the capital and other parts of Ukraine. Addressing the Rome conference on Ukraine’s reconstruction after more than three years of war, President Volodymyr Zelensky urged allies to “more actively” use Russian assets for rebuilding and called for weapons, joint defense production and investment.
Participants pledged over 10 billion euros  to help rebuild Ukraine, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said. The European Commission, the EU’s executive, announced 2.3 billion euros  in support.
US President Donald Trump has been increasingly frustrated with Vladimir Putin over the lack of progress toward ending the war raging since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and has accused the Russian president of throwing a lot of “bullshit” at US efforts to end the conflict.
At talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov while in Malaysia, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he had reinforced the message that Moscow should show more flexibility.
“We need to see a roadmap moving forward about how this conflict can conclude,” Rubio said, adding that the Trump administration had been engaging with the US Senate on what new sanctions on Russia might look like.
“It was a frank conversation. It was an important one,” Rubio said after the 50-minute talks in Kuala Lumpur. Moscow’s foreign ministry said they had shared “a substantive and frank exchange of views.”
Zelensky said Thursday’s assault by Russia had involved around 400 drones and 18 missiles, primarily targeting the capital.
Explosions and anti-aircraft fire rattled the city. Windows were blown out, facades ravaged and cars burned to shells. In the city center, an apartment in an eight-story building was engulfed in flames.
“This is terror because it happens every night when people are asleep,” said Karyna Volf, a 25-year-old Kyiv resident who rushed out of her apartment moments before it was showered with shards of glass.
Air defenses stopped all but a few dozen of the drones, authorities said, a day after Russia launched a record 728 drones at Ukraine.
Escalating Russian strikes in recent weeks have strained Ukraine’s defenses at a time when its troops are facing renewed pressure on the front line, and forced residents in Kyiv and across the country into bomb shelters.
Russia’s defense ministry said it had hit “military-industrial” targets in Kyiv as well as military airfields. It denies targeting civilians although towns and cities have been hit regularly in the war and thousands have been killed.
Moscow’s mayor later said Russian air defenses had brought down four Ukrainian drones bound for the Russian capital.
In Kursk region in western Russia, the acting governor said a Ukrainian drone had killed a man in his own home, two days after four people died in a drone attack on the city’s beach.
In Rome, Zelensky urged European allies to make more use of Russian assets frozen during the war for reconstruction. He was also seeking critical weapons, joint defense production and investment.
After a pledge by Trump this week to send more defensive weaponry to Kyiv, Washington has resumed deliveries of shells and precision artillery missiles, two US officials said.
Trump has also signalled willingness to send more Patriot air-defense missiles, which have proven critical to defending against fast-moving Russian ballistic missiles.
Speaking in Rome, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz urged Trump to “stay with us” in backing Ukraine and Europe. He said Germany was prepared to buy Patriot air defense systems from the US and provide them to Ukraine.
The Kremlin said on Wednesday it was relaxed about Trump’s criticism and would keep trying to fix “broken” relations with Washington.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov denied there was a slowdown in normalizing ties and said new consultations would be arranged “in the near future.”


Six Secret Service agents punished over Trump assassination attempt

Six Secret Service agents punished over Trump assassination attempt
Updated 4 min 28 sec ago

Six Secret Service agents punished over Trump assassination attempt

Six Secret Service agents punished over Trump assassination attempt

WASHINGTON: Six Secret Service agents on duty during last year’s assassination attempt against Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania campaign rally received suspensions ranging from 10 to 42 days, the agency said on Thursday.
The Secret Service did not identify the agents or disclose specific grounds for their suspensions.
A gunman opened fire at Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024, while the candidate was speaking on stage. The shooter accessed a nearby rooftop with a direct line of sight to the former president.
Trump and others were injured, and a bystander and the shooter were killed. Multiple investigations were launched into the Secret Service, and its director resigned.
Trump said in an interview that will air on Saturday that the Secret Service erred by not stationing an agent on the rooftop and not including local police in the communications system.
“So there were mistakes made. And that shouldn’t have happened,” he said during an interview with Fox News’ “My View with Lara Trump.”
Secret Service Director Sean Curran, who was the agent in charge of Trump’s security detail at the rally, said in a statement: “The agency has taken many steps to ensure such an event can never be repeated in the future.”
The Secret Service said it has implemented 21 of 46 recommendations made by congressional oversight bodies. Sixteen other recommendations were in progress and nine were not directed at the Secret Service, it said.
The Secret Service said it was implementing protective measures for golf courses. After the Butler assassination attempt, a man with a gun hid near a Trump-owned golf course in Florida with the intent to kill the then-Republican presidential candidate.


Mourning begins in Texas where more than 170 are still missing from flash floods

Mourning begins in Texas where more than 170 are still missing from flash floods
Updated 8 min 20 sec ago

Mourning begins in Texas where more than 170 are still missing from flash floods

Mourning begins in Texas where more than 170 are still missing from flash floods

KERRVILLE, Texas: Shock has turned into grief across Texas where at least 120 people have died from flash floods and more were missing as the search for victims moved methodically along endless miles of rivers and rubble Thursday.
Photos of those who have died along with a colorful array of flowers and candles now decorate a fence in Hill Country — a growing tribute that reflects the enormity of the disaster in the region.
The victims include three friends who had gathered for the July Fourth weekend, 8-year-old sisters who were at summer camp and a 91-year-old grandmother known for her sharp wit.
More than 170 people have been reported missing, most in Kerr County, where nearly 100 victims have been recovered. The death toll remained at 120 Thursday, nearly a week since the floods first hit.
Authorities say they have carefully gone over the list of those unaccounted for but those numbers are often tough to pin down in the immediate aftermath of a disaster.
The unrelenting power of the floods forced families to make unnerving escapes with little time to spare in the middle of the night. One woman recounted how she and others, including a toddler, first climbed into an attic and then onto a roof where they heard screams and watched vehicles float past. Photos and videos captured their ordeal.
More than 2,000 local, state and federal workers were involved in the search for victims. Stifling heat and mounds of trees, hunks of lumber and trash made the task more difficult.
At a small shopping center damaged in the floods, people piled debris gathered from the rivers. Officials hope to eventually set aside personal items so residents find their possessions.
On Wednesday, hundreds prayed, wept and held one another at a prayer service, among the first of many somber gatherings to come in the weeks ahead.
“Our communities were struck with tragedy literally in the darkness,” said Wyatt Wentrcek, a youth minister.
David Garza drove more than an hour to support his loved ones.
“I’m from here, and I was here in the ‘78 flood and the ‘87 flood,” Garza said. “I just wanted to be a part of this.”
Some at the service wore green ribbons for the girls from Camp Mystic, the century-old Christian summer camp where at least 27 campers and counselors died.
Parents of children who were at the many summer camps in Hill Country have credited the teenage counselors with ushering campers to safety and helping keep them calm during the chaos.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called on state lawmakers to approve funding for new warning systems and emergency communications in flood prone areas when the Legislature meets later this month. Abbott also asked for financial relief for the response and recovery efforts.
“We must ensure better preparation for such events in the future,” he said in a statement Wednesday.
Public officials in the area have come under repeated criticism amid questions about the timeline of what happened and why widespread warnings were not sounded and more preparations were not made.
Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha has said those questions will be answered after the victims are recovered.
Local leaders have talked for years about the need for a flood warning system, but concerns about costs and noise led to missed opportunities to put up sirens.
President Donald Trump has pledged to provide whatever relief Texas needs to recover and is planning to visit the state Friday.
Polls taken before the floods show Americans largely believe the federal government should play a major role in preparing for and responding to natural disasters, which are becoming a growing worry. On Tuesday, a deluge in New Mexico triggered flash floods that killed three people.
The devastation in Texas stretched from Hill Country all the way to just outside the state’s capital. At least 15 people died in the Austin area and adjacent counties.
Just north of Austin, floodwaters from the San Gabriel River swamped two RV parks in Georgetown.
Teri Hoffman watched the water lift up her camper with her two dogs inside.
“The camper just kind of goes over on its side and starts floating. And then all the other campers just started crashing into it,” she said.
Rescuers were able to save the dogs and she managed to dig out the last picture she has of her late mother. Everything else from the RV where she lived with her husband and children is gone, she said.
“I couldn’t look at it,” Hoffman said. “I had to walk away.”
 


Released pro-Palestinian protest leader sues Trump for $20 million

Released pro-Palestinian protest leader sues Trump for $20 million
Updated 11 min 18 sec ago

Released pro-Palestinian protest leader sues Trump for $20 million

Released pro-Palestinian protest leader sues Trump for $20 million
  • Mahmoud Khalil called the lawsuit a “first step toward accountability for political retaliation and abuse of power”
  • The Columbia University graduate was a figurehead of student protests against ally Israel’s war in Gaza,

NEW YORK: Mahmoud Khalil, one of the most prominent leaders of US pro-Palestinian campus protests, sued the Trump administration Thursday for $20 million over his arrest and detention by immigration agents.
Khalil, a legal permanent resident in the United States who is married to a US citizen and has a US-born son, had been in custody following his arrest in March.
The 30-year-old was freed from a federal immigration detention center in Louisiana last month, hours after a judge ordered his release on bail.
“The administration carried out its illegal plan to arrest, detain, and deport Mr. Khalil ‘in a manner calculated to terrorize him and his family,’ the claim says,” according to the Center for Constitutional Rights which is backing Khalil.
Khalil suffered “severe emotional distress, economic hardship (and) damage to his reputation,” the claim adds.
The Columbia University graduate was a figurehead of student protests against US ally Israel’s war in Gaza, and the Trump administration labeled him a national security threat.
Khalil called the lawsuit a “first step toward accountability.”
“Nothing can restore the 104 days stolen from me. The trauma, the separation from my wife, the birth of my first child that I was forced to miss,” he said in the statement.
“There must be accountability for political retaliation and abuse of power.”
Khalil has previously shared his “horrendous” experience in detention, where he “shared a dorm with over 70 men, absolutely no privacy, lights on all the time.”
President Donald Trump’s government has justified pushing for Khalil’s deportation by saying his continued presence in the United States could carry “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences.”
Khalil’s detention came amid Trump’s campaign against top US universities in recent months, with the president facing off against Columbia, Harvard and other schools over foreign student enrollment while cutting federal grants and threatening to strip accreditation.
Beyond his legal case, Khalil’s team has expressed fear he could face threats out of detention.
 


Firefighters rescue dozens from burning high rise in Santiago

Firefighters rescue dozens from burning high rise in Santiago
Updated 17 min 2 sec ago

Firefighters rescue dozens from burning high rise in Santiago

Firefighters rescue dozens from burning high rise in Santiago

SANTIAGO, Chile: Firefighters rescued dozens of people from a mixed commercial and residential high rise in Chile’s capital Thursday, plucking some from windows and balconies with ladder trucks and others from the roof by helicopter after a fire started in the building’s basement.
People waved shirts and other garments from the upper floors calling for help as a large plume of smoke rose into the sky. At least 15 fire companies responded, working quickly to successfully evacuate more than 100 people from the the building without loss of life. Some 40 people were treated on site, said Claudio Pavez, a coronel with Chile’s national police force.
The building was located near the Plaza the Armas, one of the most bustling central area’s of Santiago.
Juan Pablo Slako, a deputy commander with the firefighters, said that there were no fatalities and no serious injuries with most suffering smoke inhalation or shock.
“We don’t have fire in the apartments, so we ask for calm,” said Álvaro Lara, vice superintendent of the firefighters, who added that the fire was controled.