The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA) has assessed that North Korea’s Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site remains ready to support another nuclear test.
During a meeting of the IAEA’s Board of Governors in Vienna on Wednesday, Rafael Grossi said there are continued signs of activity near the site’s Tunnel Number Three but none detected near Tunnel Number Four despite the rebuilding of a road leading to the entrance.
On the Yongbyon nuclear complex in the North, the IAEA chief said the five-megawatt reactor and the centrifuge enrichment in the facility appear to be in continuous operation.
He added that the radiochemical laboratory at the facility, which handles waste disposal and maintenance work, has halted operations since the end of September.
Grossi said the North’s continued development of nuclear weapons is a clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions and called on Pyongyang to fully observe Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons(NPT) safeguards agreements.
After withdrawing from the NPT in January 2003, the North refused to take part in the IAEA’s safeguard activities from 2009 and as a result the IAEA suspended on-site inspection of the North’s nuclear facilities.