South Korea said Thursday that North Korea may hold up to two tonnes of highly enriched uranium, enough to produce a large number of nuclear weapons, despite years of international sanctions. The statement came in a rare confirmation by South Korea’s unification minister, who cited intelligence estimates of Pyongyang’s stockpile of uranium enriched to over 90% purity.
Minister Chung Dong-young told reporters that North Korea’s uranium centrifuges are operating at four sites. He stressed that just five to six kilograms of plutonium is sufficient for one nuclear bomb, adding that 2,000 kilograms of highly enriched uranium could allow Pyongyang to produce “an enormous number of nuclear weapons.” He argued that sanctions would not stop the North’s nuclear ambitions and that a summit between Pyongyang and Washington was the only viable solution.
The warning comes as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signaled openness to talks with the United States, while insisting on retaining his nuclear arsenal. North Korea, under heavy UN sanctions since its first nuclear test in 2006, has revealed little about its uranium enrichment facilities. However, Seoul’s intelligence suggests Pyongyang runs several, including one at the Yongbyon nuclear site, which was briefly decommissioned but reactivated in 2021.
