'Kim ordered production of nukes'

By Kim Se-jeong

Kim Jong-il, the leader of North Korea who died in December last year, had ordered scientists to produce “a massive amount” of uranium for nuclear bombs, according to internal North Korean documents obtained by two Japanese newspapers.

The Stalinist state was only believed to be in pursuit of such weapons through a highly-enriched uranium program.

According to the documents, written in February this year, Kim had previously said a uranium enrichment plant that had been disclosed to a visiting U.S. scientist in 2010 was not designed for civilian purposes.

The Mainichi Shimbun and Tokyo Shimbun said their sources were internal documents of the North Korean Workers’ Party.

This is the first revelation that Kim ordered the development of nuclear weapons.

The Japanese newspapers did not provide details on when Kim made the comment. He died in December last year, and was succeeded by his son Jung-un.

North Korea has long claimed it has been producing low enriched-uranium to generate power to solve its chronic electricity shortages, but very few in the international community believed this. The regime has been adamant that it won’t abandon its right to pursue peaceful nuclear activity.

North Korea’s nuclear ambitions have been a serious threat to its neighbors including South Korea and the United States. Six-party talks began in 2003 to resolve the issue peacefully. They stopped in 2009, after the North conducted a satellite launch, which the international community believed was a test of a Taepodon-2 intercontinental ballistic missile.

The launch failed, with the rocket landing in the Pacific Ocean. The United Nations Security Council unanimously condemned the move, warning it would expand sanctions on North Korea.

In response, the North expelled International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors from the country.

On Feb. 29 this year, Washington and Pyongyang announced a leap day agreement in which the United States would provide food aid in exchange for the North agreeing to halt uranium enrichment and missile tests and to the return of IAEA inspectors.

This was in vain as the North launched a third rocket in April.

North Korea argued it was an attempt to put a satellite into orbit, but neighboring countries believe it was another test of missile technology, and the promised food aid was halted.