The North Korean government recently assigned nuclear energy experts to its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Daily NK has learned. Officials at the foreign ministry are apparently learning about nuclear power generation and even making an effort to track technological developments abroad.
A high-ranking source inside North Korea told Daily NK on Tuesday that researchers and technicians specialized in nuclear power generation have recently been assigned to the foreign ministry to work with members of the technical office at the bureau responsible for negotiations with the US.
The individuals assigned to the ministry are reportedly researchers with the State Atomic Energy Commission whose primary job is researching nuclear power generation.
Daily NK understands that the State Atomic Energy Commission — an agency that succeeded the Cabinet’s Ministry of Atomic Energy Industry — is researching not only military techniques for producing and weaponizing fissile materials but also the use of nuclear fission to generate electricity.
The official name of this organization was revealed in May when Korean Central Television attributed a floral wreath presented at the wake of Hyon Chol Hae, marshal of the Korean People’s Army, to the “State Atomic Energy Commission.”
In a review of various government projects in the Eighth Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea in January 2021, North Korean officials mentioned plans to “concentrate state efforts on building tidal power stations and undertaking the formation of a nuclear power industry as part of a mid- and long-term strategy of responding to prospective demand as well as objective and subjective changes going forward.”
While Daily NK was unable to ascertain exactly what work the nuclear power researchers are doing at the foreign ministry, the source said the ministry is broadly focused on the strategy of expanding power generation by putting fissile materials to use in the nuclear power industry.
There is speculation that North Korea has assigned the nuclear energy researchers to the foreign ministry’s US negotiations bureau with the hope of acquiring nuclear power technology through future negotiations.
According to the source, the North Korean government believed that then-vice foreign minister Choe Son Hui and other members of the negotiating team had an inadequate understanding of nuclear facilities and other proprietary technology during the 2019 US-DPRK summit in Hanoi.
As a result, the researchers are currently monitoring trends overseas in nuclear energy technology and analyzing research papers with members of the technical office at the Foreign Ministry’s US negotiations bureau, the source claimed, adding that the project is being personally supervised by Foreign Minister Choi Sun Hui.
In short, the North Korean government seems to be preparing for negotiations with the US at the same time that it gears up for a seventh nuclear weapon test. South Korean and American intelligence analysts believe that Pyongyang has completed preparations for the test.
All this suggests that North Korea has its finger poised over the nuclear test button, even as it prepares for nuclear talks and an eventual shift to a nuclear energy industry.
“[The authorities are] preparing for both dialogue and confrontation. [North Koreans] carry out orders verbatim when they are given,” the source said.
During the Third Plenary Meeting of the Workers’ Party of Korea’s Eighth Central Committee in June 2021, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un declared, “We need to be prepared for both dialogue and confrontation if we’re to safeguard the dignity of the state and the interests of autonomous development and to reliably guarantee the safety of the state and a peaceful environment.”
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