North Korea began increasing its production of highly enriched uranium (U-235), the isotope used to make nuclear bombs, months before its dictator Kim Jong-un met with Donald Trump in Singapore on June 12, said a classified assessment from over a dozen U.S. intelligence agencies.
Uranium enrichment is the process that increases the proportion of U-235 found in uranium ore. A bomb needs uranium that's 90 percent U-235 (highly enriched uranium) to become a true nuclear bomb.
The U.S. report said the boost in enriched uranium production is occurring at several secret uranium enrichment sites throughout North Korea. The assessment also said Kim is trying to conceal the secret uranium production plants.
"There is absolutely unequivocal evidence that they are trying to deceive the U.S.," said one senior U.S. official said. He also pointed out North Korea wants to deceive the U.S. as to the number of facilities; the number of weapons and the number of missiles it actually has in its possession.
The intelligence assessment also confirms there is no evidence North Korea is decreasing its stockpiles of fissile materials or that they've halted their production of these materials that are absolutely necessary to build a nuclear weapon.
"There are lots of things that we know that North Korea has tried to hide from us for a long time," said this official.
The intelligence report also confirms the theory held by many arms experts, which is that North Korea has a second, undisclosed nuclear enrichment facility -- or even more. The assessment revealed that North Korea boosted enriched uranium production following the 2018 Winter Olympics when a thaw in relations became evident.
Western experts have long said North Korea has at least one undeclared facility to enrich nuclear fuel apart from the Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center 100 km north of Pyongyang.
Jeffrey Lewis, Director of the East Asia Non-proliferation Program at California's Middlebury Institute of International Studies, said this deception indicates there are at least three or more secret uranium enrichment sites operating in North Korea.
