Uranium Enrichment in North Korea

Recently, former director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory and nuclear specialist Siegfried Hecker had the opportunity to visit North Korea’s newly established, large-scale uranium enrichment facility. He later claimed that the facility has 2,000 running centrifuges. Hecker also reported that if converted, the facility could produce a maximum of two nuclear bombs within a year.

This isn’t just about the six-party talks’ joint agreement over North Korea’s nuclear disarmament in 2005; the recent nuclear tests are a clear violation of sanctions placed on them by the U.N. Security Council in 2006 and 2009.

Heightening the tension on a weakened set of sanctions is just the same old brinkmanship tactics from the Cold War. However, allowing the situation against such an open threat to get this bad will not earn us any advantage.

What is important now is fortifying the alliance between Japan, South Korea and the United States. Currently, Stephen Bosworth, a special representative of the U.S. State Department on North Korean affairs, is conferencing with Kim Seong-hwan, South Korea’s minister of diplomacy and trade, and Seiji Maehara, Japan’s Foreign Minister, over possible countermeasures. All three countries together must either repel this threat with resolute conviction or look at North Korea’s aims more closely and craft the most effective countermeasures.

The current situation is not a surprise, though, after North Korea declared the success of their uranium enrichment test in September of last year. The problem is the high probability that they will accelerate the enrichment process after somehow slipping through the almost impenetrable net of sanctions placed by the U.N., along with those placed independently by the Japanese and American governments, to get the materials they needed.

Compared to the plutonium-type nuclear bomb used in North Korea’s last two tests, the uranium type explosive is not necessarily aiming at experiments in easy militarization. On the other hand, the large concentration of uranium needed in the centrifuges, more than 90 percent of their resources, requires advanced technology. Over and over again, suspicions have been raised against North Korea over their cooperation with Iran in nuclear development. Might there be a hole in the siege wall that we’ve built around North Korea? The international community needs to verify this right now.

Recently, North Korea has begun preparations for their third nuclear test. Also, secretary general Kim Jong-il confirmed that his third son, Kim Jong-un, would act as his successor. It is essential that we draw out his external support. This seems like the most effective way for South Korea, Japan and the U.S. to shake things up.

Recently, the reconciliatory policy of China, which is the current chair in the six-party talks, toward North Korea has become conspicuous. On the 23rd, Bosworth will be heading to Beijing, and he should tell them that economic assistance to North Korea is the same as permitting their lawlessness.

Since the sinking of one of South Korea’s patrol boats in March of this year, America and South Korea have begun combined military exercises with the Maritime Self Defense Force participating as an observer. Such cooperation has been very successful. South Korea, Japan and the United States must not become panicked by the North Korean threat.