The United States and South Korea have stepped up their joint drills as a defense measure.
The speculation comes as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) stated that there were signs of activity detected at North Korea’s Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site, which the regime previously had demolished in 2018 as a sign of its commitment to end nuclear testing.
“The nuclear test site at Punggye-ri remains prepared to support a nuclear test, and we continue to see indications of activity near Adit 3 of the test site,” IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said in a March 6 statement.
“The reopening of the nuclear test site is deeply troubling. The conduct of a nuclear test would contravene U.N. Security Council resolutions and would be a cause for serious concern.”
The U.N. nuclear watchdog has observed ongoing activity and construction work at the Yongbyon nuclear facility since November 2022. Grossi said there were indications that the reported centrifuge enrichment facility was in operation.
The IAEA hasn’t had access to Yongbyon or other locations in North Korea since the country expelled its inspectors in 2009. It now monitors developments in North Korea’s nuclear program from a distance, including through satellite imagery and open-source information.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un agreed to shut down the Yongbyon complex in exchange for sanctions relief following his denuclearization talks with then-President Donald Trump in 2019. But the talks eventually stalled.
North Korea conducted a series of missile launches last year, including one involving its largest ICBM, the Hwasong-17, all of which are banned under U.N. Security Council resolutions on North Korea’s missile program.
Kim Jong Un’s Children
The NIS stated that it believes the North Korean leader’s first child is a son who hasn’t made a public appearance, unlike his daughter, Kim Ju Ae, whom Kim has brought to multiple public events.The spy agency also claimed that Kim has a third child whose gender is unknown, according to Yonhap News Agency.
“We do not have detailed evidence that his first child is a son. But we are convinced that the first child is certainly a son based on intelligence that has been shared with an external intelligence agency,” lawmaker Yoo Sang-beom said of the NIS information.
Kim publicly took his daughter, Kim Ju Ae, to three events in the past few months: a missile launch site, a photo session with weapons scientists, and a tour of a missile facility.
State media called her Kim’s “most beloved child,” sparking outside debate over whether she’s being groomed as his heir apparent, although she’s believed to be about 9 or 10 years old.
In its earlier assessment after the daughter’s first appearance in November 2022, the NIS told lawmakers that her unveiling at the missile launch site appeared to reflect Kim’s intentions to protect the security of North Korea’s future generations in the face of a standoff with the United States.
