Page 46 - 2020 Defence White Paper

Appendix
8

Status and Assessment of North Korean Nuclear
and Missile Development

1. Status and Assessment of Nuclear Development

| Construction of Nuclear Infrastructure | Immediately following the Korean War, North Korea began
the groundwork for the use of nuclear energy, such as basic research and workforce cultivation, while
carrying out postwar restoration efforts. The physics department of 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 known as the "National Academy of
Sciences") in 1956. That same year, North Korea signed a nuclear cooperation agreement with the
Soviet Union and sent scientists to the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, 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 Soviet Union in 1963, with which it began the construction of a large-scale nuclear complex in
Yongbyon, North Pyongan Province in 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 Yongbyon Nuclear
Complex saw the construction of key plutonium production facilities
including nuclear reactors, reprocessing facilities, and nuclear fuel
rod fabrication facility. North Korea developed a 5 MWe graphite-
moderated reactor on its own, which was completed and activated
in 1986. In 1985, it built a radiochemical laboratory capable of
reprocessing spent nuclear fuel, which was fully activated in 1989. 5 MWe reactor located in Yongbyon
At the same time, North Korea began the construction of a 50 MWe
graphite-moderated reactor in the Yongbyon complex with 1995 as the target year and established a
plan to build a 200 MWe graphite-moderated reactor in Taechon.
In 1989, North Korea came under suspicion when the Yongbyon Nuclear Complex was discovered by

2020 Defense White Paper