SEOUL: A second reactor at North Korea’s Yongbyon nuclear facility appears to be operational, according to the UN atomic agency.
Yongbyon is North Korea’s main nuclear complex and home to its first nuclear reactor, with a five megawatt capacity, and has been the only known source of plutonium for its weapons program.
A second one — a light-water reactor — now also appears to be operational, based on observations that warm water is being discharged from it, the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement released late on Thursday.
“The discharge of warm water is indicative the reactor has reached criticality,” IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said in a statement.
In the operation of a nuclear reactor, criticality is the state in which a nuclear chain reaction is self-sustaining, according to experts.
Since North Korea expelled its inspectors in 2009, the IAEA has been denied access to the country.
The agency has since been primarily relying on satellite imagery to monitor the North.
“Without access to the facility the Agency cannot confirm its operational status,” Grossi said.
He emphasised that “construction and operation” of the light-water reactor (LWR) was against the United Nations Security Council resolutions and “deeply regrettable.”
“The LWR, like any nuclear reactor, can produce plutonium in its irradiated fuel, which can be separated during reprocessing, so this is a cause for concern,” Grossi said.
Plutonium, which is a primary material for nuclear weapons, is believed to be extracted through the reprocessing of spent fuel rods produced during the operation of the first nuclear reactor at Yongbyon.
Kim Dong-jin, a researcher at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, confirmed to AFP that warm water discharge would indicate any reactor was operational.
“Warm water discharge is a common occurrence in operating light water reactors,” Kim said.
“During the operation of a power plant, it is necessary to circulate cooling water. As a result, the water is heated.”
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency also reported that the IAEA statement suggested that a “larger light-water reactor” has begun operation at Yongbyon.
North Korea conducted its first nuclear test in 2006, and carried out its sixth and most powerful one in September 2017.
In March this year, Kim called for expanded production of “weapon-grade nuclear materials” as North Korea unveiled what appeared to be a new, smaller tactical nuclear warhead.
The country on Monday launched its solid-fuel Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile, the largest weapon in its arsenal.
Kim on Thursday also warned through the country’s state media that Pyongyang will not hesitate to launch a nuclear attack if “provoked” with nukes.
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New North Korean nuclear reactor appears to be operational: IAEA
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New North Korean nuclear reactor appears to be operational: IAEA
- Yongbyon is North Korea’s main nuclear complex and home to its first nuclear reactor
- A second one — a light-water reactor — now appears to be operational
Indian writer Arundhati Roy pulls out of Berlin Film Festival over Gaza row
- Writer pulls out after jury president Wim Wenders said cinema should 'stay out of politics' when asked about Gaza
- Booker Prize winner describes Israel’s actions in Gaza as 'a genocide of the Palestinian people'
BERLIN: Award-winning Indian writer Arundhati Roy said Friday she was withdrawing from the Berlin Film Festival over jury president Wim Wenders’s comments that cinema should “stay out of politics” when he was asked about Gaza.
Roy said in a statement sent to AFP that she was “shocked and disgusted” by Wenders’s response to a question about the Palestinian territory at a press conference on Thursday.
Roy, whose novel “The God of Small Things” won the 1997 Booker Prize, had been announced as a festival guest to present a restored version of the 1989 film “In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones,” in which she starred and wrote the screenplay.
However, she said that the “unconscionable” statements by Wenders and other jury members had led her to reconsider, “with deep regret.”
When asked about Germany’s support for Israel at a press conference on Thursday, Wenders said: “We cannot really enter the field of politics,” describing filmmakers as “the counterweight to politics.”
Fellow jury member Ewa Puszczynska said it was a “little bit unfair” to expect the jury to take a direct stance on the issue.
Roy said in her statement that “to hear them say that art should not be political is jaw-dropping.”
She described Israel’s actions in Gaza as “a genocide of the Palestinian people by the State of Israel.”
“If the greatest film makers and artists of our time cannot stand up and say so, they should know that history will judge them,” she said.
Roy is one of India’s most famous living authors and is a trenchant critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, as well as a firm supporter of the Palestinian cause.
Shying away from politics
The Berlinale traditionally has a reputation for topical, progressive programming, but so far this year’s edition has seen several stars shy away from taking a stance on the big political issues of the day.
US actor Neil Patrick Harris, who stars in the film “Sunny Dancer” being shown in the festival’s Generation section, was asked on Friday if he considered his art to be political and if it could help “fight the rise of fascism.”
He replied that he was “interested in doing things that are apolitical” and which could help people find connection in our “strangely algorithmic and divided world.”
This year’s Honorary Golden Bear recipient, Malaysian actor Michelle Yeoh, also demurred when asked to comment on US politics in a press conference on Friday, saying she “cannot presume to say I understand” the situation there.
This isn’t the first edition of the festival to run into controversy over the Gaza war.
In 2024 the festival’s documentary award went to “No Other Land,” a portrayal of the dispossession of Palestinian communities in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
German government officials criticized “one-sided” remarks about Gaza by the directors of that film and others at that year’s awards ceremony.
The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Israel’s retaliation has left at least 71,000 people dead in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, whose figures the UN considers reliable.
Roy said in a statement sent to AFP that she was “shocked and disgusted” by Wenders’s response to a question about the Palestinian territory at a press conference on Thursday.
Roy, whose novel “The God of Small Things” won the 1997 Booker Prize, had been announced as a festival guest to present a restored version of the 1989 film “In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones,” in which she starred and wrote the screenplay.
However, she said that the “unconscionable” statements by Wenders and other jury members had led her to reconsider, “with deep regret.”
When asked about Germany’s support for Israel at a press conference on Thursday, Wenders said: “We cannot really enter the field of politics,” describing filmmakers as “the counterweight to politics.”
Fellow jury member Ewa Puszczynska said it was a “little bit unfair” to expect the jury to take a direct stance on the issue.
Roy said in her statement that “to hear them say that art should not be political is jaw-dropping.”
She described Israel’s actions in Gaza as “a genocide of the Palestinian people by the State of Israel.”
“If the greatest film makers and artists of our time cannot stand up and say so, they should know that history will judge them,” she said.
Roy is one of India’s most famous living authors and is a trenchant critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, as well as a firm supporter of the Palestinian cause.
Shying away from politics
The Berlinale traditionally has a reputation for topical, progressive programming, but so far this year’s edition has seen several stars shy away from taking a stance on the big political issues of the day.
US actor Neil Patrick Harris, who stars in the film “Sunny Dancer” being shown in the festival’s Generation section, was asked on Friday if he considered his art to be political and if it could help “fight the rise of fascism.”
He replied that he was “interested in doing things that are apolitical” and which could help people find connection in our “strangely algorithmic and divided world.”
This year’s Honorary Golden Bear recipient, Malaysian actor Michelle Yeoh, also demurred when asked to comment on US politics in a press conference on Friday, saying she “cannot presume to say I understand” the situation there.
This isn’t the first edition of the festival to run into controversy over the Gaza war.
In 2024 the festival’s documentary award went to “No Other Land,” a portrayal of the dispossession of Palestinian communities in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
German government officials criticized “one-sided” remarks about Gaza by the directors of that film and others at that year’s awards ceremony.
The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Israel’s retaliation has left at least 71,000 people dead in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, whose figures the UN considers reliable.
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