North Korea has continued to upgrade its only known nuclear reactor used to fuel its weapons program, satellite imagery has shown, despite ongoing negotiations with the US and a pledge to denuclearise.
Infrastructure improvements at the Yongbyon nuclear plant are "continuing at a rapid pace", according to an analysis by monitoring group 38 North of commercial satellite images taken on 21 June.
The cooling system for the plutonium production reactor has been modified and at least two new non-industrial buildings have been built on the site, possibly for use by visiting officials. A new engineering office building has been completed and construction has continued on support facilities throughout the complex, according to a blog post written by Frank V Pabian, Joseph S Bermudez Jr and Jack Liu.
"Infrastructure improvements continue at Yongbyon," Jenny Town, managing editor of 38 North, wrote on Twitter. "Underscores reason why an actual deal is necessary, not just a statement of lofty goals."
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/27/north-korea-nuclear-reactor-upgrades-summit-pledges
(Score: 4, Informative) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday June 27 2018, @07:50PM
“Continued work at the Yongbyon facility should not be seen as having any relationship to North Korea’s pledge to denuclearise,” the experts warned. “The North’s nuclear cadre can be expected to proceed with business as usual until specific orders are issued from Pyongyang.”
Business-as-usual is to continue their nuke program and build more bombs...