Last year, operations in North Korea’s
Yongbyon nuclear facility came to a halt for approximately five months, from
the end of August to mid-December. However, 38 North, the website run by the
US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University, has recently reported
detecting signs of nuclear activity in the 5 MWe facility through satellite
imagery.
The site, known for its informed analysis, noted the piles of snow on nuclear reactor structures melting, causing a flow
of hot water into the nearby river. A number of parsing experts interpret this
as a sign that the facility has resumed operations, however, they warned that
it is too soon to come
to a definitive conclusion as the area has only been under observation for a
matter of weeks.
Upon the news, some have asserted the purported resumption of operations
at the nuclear facility to be the North’s method of expressing resentment
toward the U.S., most specifically for its rejection to comply with North Korea’s offer to put nuclear tests on hold in return for a suspension of ROK-US joint military exercises.
Other speculation names North Korea’s agitation with President
Barack Obama’s latest remarks on the regime as reason behind the possible recommencement of operations. During a recent press interview,
President Obama criticized the North Korean regime as being the “most isolated,
the most sanctioned, the most cut-off nation on Earth” and that “over time you
will see a regime like this collapse.”
The current theories notwithstanding, there was already a high probability that
the North was going to resume nuclear activity at the Yongbyon facility, rendering the resumption of nuclear activity as solely an effort by the North to put pressure on the US unlikely.
