A new report strongly suggests that a chemical plant in northern North Korea is the main supplier to the country’s nuclear program, citing satellite evidence that appears to show shipments of chemicals from the plant to the Yongbyon nuclear facility.
Beyond Parallel, a project of the Washington-based Center for Strategic International Studies, or CSIS, said the Manpo Unha Chemical Factory makes chemicals, including nitric acid, needed for processes that produce plutonium-239 from steel rods. used nuclear fuel, which is used in the nuclear industry. weapons production, and uranium hexafluoride, used to make highly enriched uranium, needed for nuclear power generation or nuclear weapons.
The report analyzed 514 satellite images showing rail cars specialized in transporting chemicals both at the plant, located near the city of Manpo on North Korea’s border with China, and at the Yongbyon nuclear facility, a some 155 kilometers (96 miles) to the southwest, suggesting that chemicals made at the plant are transported to Yongbyon.
“This image analysis combined with interview data strongly supports the assessment that the Manpo Unha factory is the source of the specialized tank cars observed at the Yongbyon Nuclear Research Center and that the factory is linked to North Korea’s nuclear program. the report said.
The chemical plant appears to have been in operation since 1975 and is suspected of having a connection to Yongbyon and supporting North Korea’s nuclear program since the mid-1970s.
The report says that specialized rail cars likely began transporting chemicals from Manpo to Yongbyon as early as the 1980s. However, this could not be confirmed because satellite images from the years 1985-2000 remain classified.
Commercial satellite imagery became available in the early 2000s, and since then the carriages have been viewed 95 times at both locations, and as recently as March 17, 2023.
Useful for future negotiations
If the relationship between Manpo and Yongbyon is ultimately proven, it could have implications for possible denuclearization negotiations with Pyongyang, according to the report.
“As the main supplier of chemicals to the Yongbyon Nuclear Research Center, the Manpo Unha factory would presumably have to be subject to declaration, verification and decommissioning in any future final and fully verifiable denuclearization agreement with North Korea,” it said. .
The Manpo chemical plant has long been of interest to North Korea watchers and observers interested in weapons of mass destruction, according to Jacob Bogle, curator of the website AccessDPRK who analyzes North Korea via satellite images.
“It has traditionally been known as a production hub for North Korea’s chemical weapons program, but the CSIS/Beyond Parallel report does a very good job linking Manpo to North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs,” Bogle told the Korean Radio Free Asia show. Service.
Bogle said understanding North Korea’s nuclear weapons production and supply chains would allow the international community to confront Pyongyang over its activities and devise plans for declaration, verification and disarmament.
“Requirements for chemicals such as nitric acid, needed to produce uranium hexafluoride, will only increase as Kim Jong Un places a higher priority on expanding the country’s nuclear arsenal,” he said. “So the importance of Manpo to the country’s nuclear infrastructure will only grow over time.”
The report’s findings all but establish that the Manpo chemical plant is part of North Korea’s nuclear program, Cheong Seong-chang, a researcher at the South Korea-based Sejong Institute, told Radio Free Asia’s Korean Service.
“There is a good chance that the Manpo Unha factory and the Yongbyon nuclear facility are connected.” Cheong said. “The ammunition industry is also concentrated in Kanggye, Chagang province, which is close to Manpo.”
In addition to manufacturing chemicals used in nuclear program processes, the Manpo plant is also believed to be the source of liquid rocket fuel production, chemical weapons research and production, and industrial uses, according to the report.
Additional reporting by Jeongeun Ji and Jaewoo Park for RFA Korean. Edited by Malcolm Foster.
