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North Korea has built a new uranium enrichment facility at its main Yongbyon nuclear complex capable of housing up to 28 centrifuge cascades and has expanded operations at another site near Pyongyang, the International Atomic Energy Agency said.
The U.N. nuclear watchdog said the developments point to a continuing expansion of North Korea’s nuclear infrastructure and weapons-grade material production.
“The ongoing operation of enrichment facilities at Kangson and Yongbyon and the reported further expansion of the DPRK’s production of weapons-grade nuclear material is a cause for serious concern,” IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said.
Grossi said the continued development of North Korea’s nuclear program represented “clear violations” of relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions.
The agency identified a new two-story building at Yongbyon as the complex’s second uranium enrichment facility by comparing satellite imagery with photographs published by North Korean state media during leader Kim Jong Un’s visit in early June.
The images indicated gas centrifuge cascades had been installed on both floors and that the building could accommodate as many as 28 cascades.
The IAEA has had no inspectors in North Korea since they were expelled in 2009 and relies on satellite imagery and open-source material to monitor the country’s nuclear activities.
The agency also found indications that operations began in January at an expanded uranium enrichment facility in Kangson, near Pyongyang. An annex at the site was built in 2024.
During his June visit, Kim praised the country’s expanded nuclear material production capacity and said it would allow North Korea to pursue larger plans. State media also quoted him as saying production capacity for weapons-grade nuclear material had more than doubled over the past five years and promising to further strengthen the country’s nuclear forces.
A 2025 analysis by the U.S.-based James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies estimated that 28 cascades containing 4,592 centrifuges at Yongbyon could produce about 85 kilograms of weapons-grade highly enriched uranium annually, enough for three or four additional nuclear warheads.
South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back said in August that North Korea could possess between 80 and 120 nuclear warheads, citing estimates from private research organizations. He said South Korea’s military could not independently confirm the figures.
U.S. President Donald Trump cited a figure of 57 warheads the same month.
North Korea has accelerated its nuclear and ballistic missile programs under Kim and has conducted numerous long-range missile tests since 2017.
The country has carried out six nuclear weapons tests, most recently in September 2017. A report submitted to the U.N. Security Council in 2020 said international experts believed North Korea had probably developed nuclear devices capable of fitting into ballistic missile warheads.
North Korea declared itself a nuclear weapons state in 2022 and has said it will not give up its arsenal.
In August, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung proposed talks with North Korea on formally ending the war between the two countries, saying such discussions could also address ways to halt further development of the North’s nuclear capabilities. Pyongyang has not responded to the proposal.
North Korea has repeatedly rejected the IAEA’s authority. Its mission to the U.N. in Vienna said last September that the country’s nuclear weapons status was irreversible and that the agency had “no legal right” to interfere in the affairs of a nuclear weapons state outside the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
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