Overview
- Unification Minister Chung Dong Young said intelligence estimates put Pyongyang’s stockpile of >90% highly enriched uranium at up to 2,000 kilograms.
- IAEA figures cited in the reports indicate that quantity could be sufficient for more than 40 nuclear weapons.
- Chung said uranium centrifuges are currently operating at four locations, pointing to active enrichment capacity.
- He warned that sanctions have failed to curb the program and called a direct summit with the United States the only viable path.
- Kim Jong Un signaled willingness to talk only if Washington drops denuclearization demands, with verification hampered by North Korea’s past IAEA/NPT exit and its 2023 constitutional nuclear status.