Page 11 - 2018 Defense White Paper

Special Appendix 2
Progress and Assessment of North

Korean Nuclear Missile Development

1. Progress and Assessment of Nuclear Missile Development

| Construction of Nuclear Infrastructure | Immediately following the Korean War, North Korea began
the groundworks for the use of nuclear energy while carrying out postwar restoration efforts. The physics
department of the Kim Il-sung University opened a nuclear physics course in 1955, followed by the launch
of a nuclear physics lab in the Academy of Sciences of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (formerly
the “National Academy of Sciences”) in 1956. In the same year, North Korea signed the North Korea–USSR
Nuclear Cooperation Agreement and sent scientists to the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna,
USSR, establishing the foundation for acquiring advanced technologies and training experts. In 1959, North
Korea signed a nuclear cooperation agreement with China as well. North Korea obtained research reactors
with the help of the USSR in 1963, with which it began the construction of a large-scale nuclear complex in
Yongbyon, North Pyongan Province from 1965. At the same time, North Korea developed uranium mines and

built uranium refineries in Pyongsan, Suncheon, and Bakcheon. Subsequently, North Korea built a series of
additional nuclear facilities capitalizing on its rich uranium reserve.

| Full-fledged Nuclear Development | In the 1980s, North Korea
launched full-fledged nuclear development efforts by building production
facilities for weapons-grade nuclear materials, training nuclear experts,
and expanding its infrastructure for nuclear weapon development
including nuclear test sites. The nuclear complex in Yongbyon saw the
construction of key plutonium production facilities including nuclear
reactors, reprocessing facilities, and nuclear fuel plants. North Korea
developed a 5 MWe graphite-moderated reactor on its own which was
completed and activated in 1986. In 1990, it built a radiochemical lab
A 5 MWe reactor located in Yongbyon
capable of reprocessing used nuclear fuel. At the same time, North Korea
began the construction of a 50 MWe graphite-moderated reactor in the Yongbyon complex with the target
year of 1995 and established a plan to build a 200 MWe graphite-moderated reactor in Taechon.

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