N. Korea Steps Up Nuke Program

The Daily Telegraph reports:

North Korea is feared to be accelerating its nuclear programme after US satellite images captured new buildings at the country’s Yongbyon nuclear facility.

The discovery of the new buildings has sparked concern that they may be part of a drive by Pyongyang to fabricate fuel for nuclear reactors or to enrich uranium.

Renovation of some of the buildings at the sprawling plant have also been identified in new satellite images released by the Institute for Science and International Security.

The organisation, based in Washington, DC, identifiec a number of entirely new buildings, including some that were apparently only completed this spring.

The release of the report coincides with a report to parliament by South Korea’s defence minister, Kim Kwan-Jin, that the North may have developed a nuclear warhead small enough to be loaded onto a ballistic missile and warning that the risk of another “surprise provocation” from Pyongyang is now rising.

The South has claimed that its assessment of the nuclear capabilities of its belligerent neighbour is not based on specific intelligence, but its analysts will have been carefully watching developments at Yongbyon