North Korea may hold up to 2 tonnes of highly enriched uranium, Seoul warns

South Korea’s Unification Minister Chung Dong-young has said that North Korea is believed to possess up to 2,000 kilograms of highly enriched uranium.

The minister cited intelligence assessments and public estimates in making the statement, Caliber.Az reports per Yonhap.

"It is urgent to stop (it). Even at this very hour, uranium centrifuges in four areas (in North Korea) are running to accumulate nuclear materials," Chung said.

As a solution, the minister proposed resuming dialogue between North Korea and the United States on denuclearisation.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said this week that he was open to US talks provided he can keep his nuclear arsenal.  

North Korea, which conducted its first nuclear test in 2006 and is under rafts of UN sanctions for its banned weapons programmes, has never publicly disclosed details of its uranium enrichment facility until last September.

By Khagan Isayev