North Korea is a rogue nation that the United States expects to act in a civilized manner. In case you have not been paying attention to current events, that is never going to happen. The ruthless North Korean dictatorship of Kim Jong Un needs a devil to fight to keep the masses distracted. Also needed is a lot of threatening, posturing and saber rattling in order to gain concessions from the free world. So, Kim Jong Un must proceed to appear that he has nuclear weapons and a ballistic missile system with which to deliver them. God forbid that he will ever accomplish his goals. In the mean time keep a sharp eye on North Korea.

Yongbyon nuclear complex – photo taken by Reuters

‘Suspicious activity’ at N. Korea’s nuclear complex: 38 North

By Chang Jae-soon at Yonhap News Agency

WASHINGTON, April 4 (Yonhap) — Recent satellite imagery shows “suspicious activity” at North Korea’s nuclear complex in what could be a sign that Pyongyang might be trying to harvest weapons-grade plutonium from spent nuclear fuel, a U.S. website monitoring the North said Monday.

The website 38 North said in a report that the satellite imagery has shown “exhaust plumes” from a thermal plant used to heat the Yongbyon nuclear complex’s Radiochemical Laboratory, where spent nuclear fuel rods are reprocessed to extract plutonium.

“During the past five weeks, exhaust plumes on two, possibly three, occasions were observed at the Radiochemical Laboratory’s Thermal Plant,” the report said, adding that the activity is “unusual” since exhaust plumes have rarely been seen there and none has been observed on any examined imagery this past winter.

“The plumes suggest that the operators of the reprocessing facility are heating their buildings, perhaps indicating that some significant activity is being undertaken, or will be in the near future,” it said.

It remains unclear whether the activity will be additional separation of plutonium, the report said.