As North Korean leader Kim Jong Un faces down a potential existential crisis for his regime amid a large COVID-19 outbreak, he also appears to be doubling down on expanding his nuclear weapons program.
New satellite imagery has indicated that the isolated North has resumed construction at a long-dormant nuclear reactor at its Yongbyon complex, analysts said in released Friday.
Images taken April 20 and May 7, which show the connecting of a secondary cooling loop at the Yongbyon complex¡¯s 50 megawatt reactor to a pumphouse on a nearby river, ¡°is the first unambiguous indicator that North Korea is moving to complete the reactor,¡± experts at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies who analyzed the photos said.
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