For the first time, North Korea showed footage of a uranium enrichment plant — it is needed for nuclear weapons

North Korea has released footage for the first time of its leader Kim Jong Un, visiting a uranium enrichment plant used to make nuclear weapons.

This was reported by the North Korean news agency KCNA, Reuters reports.

This is the first time KCNA has reported Kim Jong Unʼs visit to the Nuclear Weapons Institute and Weapons Nuclear Material Production Base, his "personal inspection" and orders.

Kim Jong Un has called for more centrifuges to "exponentially increase" the countryʼs ability to produce weapons-grade nuclear materials. And he also wanted to implement a new generation centrifuge "to further strengthen the basis for the production of nuclear weapons."

In this way, the DPRK seeks to strengthen "self-defense and the ability to strike pre-emptively with the help of nuclear power."

KCNA did not disclose the location of the plant or the day Kim Jong-un visited it.

In 2010, Pyongyang gave the American nuclear expert Siegfried Hecker a tour of the uranium enrichment plant in Yongben in the northwest of the country.

Since 2006, North Korea has conducted six nuclear tests. The country is believed to be capable of producing plutonium and highly enriched uranium for nuclear weapons development at the Yongben plant.

Separately, North Koreaʼs state news agency reported that Kim Jong-un watched a test that tested the effectiveness of a new 600mm rocket launcher system. They said that the projectiles had hit a target on an island in the Sea of Japan.

Japan and South Korea confirmed the launch of several North Korean short-range ballistic missiles towards the Sea of Japan.

• North Korea, despite the sanctions, has been developing and creating nuclear weapons for years, and since 2023 it has started simulating nuclear strikes on South Korea and openly showing missiles capable of carrying nuclear charges. A year ago, North Korea enshrined its nuclear status in the Constitution.