North Korea Allegedly Not Using Its Full Capacity in Nuke Manufacturing

Despite pressure from the international community in the form of sanctions, the DPRK has not abandoned its efforts to build up a nuclear arsenal. Furthermore, it is also developing delivery methods, which recently received a significant boost with the introduction of a hypersonic missile.

North Korea has the capacity to produce fissile material for its nuclear armaments in volumes that greatly exceed the country's current output, research from Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation has shown.

The authors of the study looked through satellite imagery to assess the DPRK's level of production of fissile materials involved in the early stages of a nuke's manufacturing, studying photos of equipment, facilities, and a uranium mining complex in Pyongsan. The researchers also evaluated the level of waste disposal at these facilities.

The study showed that the DPRK's current output of fissile materials is just a fraction of what it could actually produce.

There are several possible reasons why North Korea keeps it so low, in the opinion of Sulgiye Park, the lead researcher. Either the DPRK is satisfied with the current speed of the nuclear arsenal's build-up, or it faces certain bottlenecks in the production chain. The latter could either be related to a lack of uranium ore, the key component in a nuclear device, or with limitations in the later stages of a nuke's manufacturing, Park suggested.

The DPRK is continuing to upgrade its nuclear arsenal, as well as its means of delivery despite international sanctions pressure and attempts in recent years to negotiate the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula. Most recently, North Korea boasted of successfully testing its first hypersonic missile, the Hwasong-8. Normally, hypersonic vehicles possess greater capabilities for dodging interception by enemy air defence systems.