South Korea’s top intelligence agency says North Korea suspended nuclear reactors at its Yongbyon site late last year and since then, there has been no indication the regime has resumed operations of the reprocessing facility.
According to the National Assembly’s Intelligence Committee Chair Lee Hye-hoon and the rival parties’ representatives at the committee, National Intelligence Service(NIS) officials, including Director Suh Hoon, gave the report to parliament on Tuesday.
The NIS said South Korean and U.S. military authorities are up to date on the North’s uranium enrichment and missile facilities, adding close surveillance is in place.
The agency also denied a media report that an additional nuclear facility the U.S. claimed exists in North Korea, during the Hanoi summit last week, is located in Bungang, explaining that it is an administrative region where Yongbyon nuclear facilities are located.
During the report, the NIS also addressed the possibility of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un making a return trip to South Korea following President Moon Jae-in’s visit to Pyongyang last September.
The intelligence agency said Pyongyang needs to review its strategies after the collapse of the second North Korea-U.S. summit and that it's not desirable for Seoul to discuss the issue with Pyongyang in haste.