North Korea continues to upgrade nuclear reactor

  Back at the summit in June North Korea’s Kim Jong Un committed to the full denuclearization of his country but according to this story he continues to upgrade his nuclear facility. Here is more:

North Korea has continued to upgrade its only known nuclear reactor used to fuel its weapons program, satellite imagery has shown, despite ongoing negotiations with the US and a pledge to denuclearise.

Infrastructure improvements at the Yongbyon nuclear plant are “continuing at a rapid pace”, according to an analysis by monitoring group 38 North of commercial satellite images taken on 21 June.

The cooling system for the plutonium production reactor has been modified and at least two new non-industrial buildings have been built on the site, possibly for use by visiting officials. A new engineering office building has been completed and construction has continued on support facilities throughout the complex, according to a blog post written by Frank V Pabian, Joseph S Bermudez Jr and Jack Liu.

  The left is sure to jump all over this news and use it as proof that Donald Trump was naive for believing he could usher in a deal with North Korea to guarantee us peace with the peninsula in the future, but it should be remembered that no official deal has been reached and both nations are still proceeding with business as usual until a deal is struck.

“Infrastructure improvements continue at Yongbyon,” Jenny Town, managing editor of 38 North, wrote on Twitter. “Underscores reason why an actual deal is necessary, not just a statement of lofty goals.”

“Continued work at the Yongbyon facility should not be seen as having any relationship to North Korea’s pledge to denuclearise,” the experts warned. “The North’s nuclear cadre can be expected to proceed with business as usual until specific orders are issued from Pyongyang.”

  Of course Kim Jong Un cannot be trusted, he must be monitored closely to make sure he is in compliance with any deal once one is in place, but as the block quote above states, this is why we have to get a deal done. It would be a show of good faith for Kim Jong Un to stop the upgrades but while negotiating a deal he is still trying to come from some sort of position of strength. It also would have been a show of good faith for the United States to lift, or partially lift, the sanctions on North Korea but they remains in place until a deal is struck and I think we are seeing the same thing with Kim Jong Un right now.

malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium