UN Watchdog 'North Korea Boosting Ability To Make Nuclear Arms'

North Korea is showing a "very serious increase" in its ability to produce atomic weapons, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog said Wednesday on a visit to Seoul. 

The diplomatically isolated north is believed to operate multiple facilities for enriching uranium, a key step in making nuclear warheads, South Korea's spy agency has said.

They include one at the Yongbyon nuclear site, which Pyongyang purportedly decommissioned after talks but later reactivated in 2021.

"In our periodic assessments, we have been able to confirm



that there's a rapid increase in the operations" of the Yongbyon reactor, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi told reporters in Seoul. 

The agency also observed a rise in operations at Yongbyon's reprocessing unit and light-water reactor, as well as the activation of other facilities, Grossi said. 

"All that points to a very serious increase in the capabilities of (the) DPRK in the area of nuclear weapons production, which is estimated at a few dozen warheads," he said, using North Korea's official name.