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Looks like North Korea still has nuclear weapons.
So here’s a great story by @ZcohenCNN, highlighting geospatial work by @ArmsControlWonk, @atomic_pickles, @DavidLaBoon, and @DaveSchmerler.
On ‘Wollo-ri’—a name worth adding to our North Korea nuclear vernacular. https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/08/politics/north-korea-nuclear-facility-wollo-ri-satellite-images/index.html
On ‘Wollo-ri’—a name worth adding to our North Korea nuclear vernacular. https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/08/politics/north-korea-nuclear-facility-wollo-ri-satellite-images/index.html
And @ArmsControlWonk, @atomic_pickles, @DavidLaBoon, and @DaveSchmerler have a more wonk-ish readout here. https://www.armscontrolwonk.com/archive/1209644/wollo-ri-nuclear-facility/
What is Wollo-ri? Well, parts of the USIC think it’s where North Korea manufactures nuclear warheads. What *exactly* does that mean? We don’t know—and it’s hard to see that from space—but there are a few possibilities.
One possibility is that it’s where North Korea might manufacture pits for its nuclear weapons: weapons-grade fissile material isn’t dumpling-filling; it needs to be machined for use in a bomb.
But there are other possibilities, too. Warhead manufacturing would require other electronics, components, and mechanisms to be produced somewhere, for instance. This may also be something that’s done at Wollo-ri.
My personal view is that Wollo-ri is probably not a warhead *storage* site. It’s too far south from North Korea’s main ballistic missile operating areas in Chaggang/Ryanggang province for long-range missiles. It *is* however fairly close to Kangson.
You might recall Kangson from 2018. https://thediplomat.com/2018/07/exclusive-revealing-kangson-north-koreas-first-covert-uranium-enrichment-site/
There’s a lot more to be said—and you can read about Wollo-ri and other facilities in my book, which is out in the US August 7 (and is already out in the UK). https://www.amazon.com/Kim-Jong-Bomb-Survival-Deterrence/dp/0190060360
But what we need to be realistic about is that the North Korea problem is far bigger than Yongbyon. Talking about Yongbyon is good, but this is a well-institutionalized nuclear state with a diversified set of facilities in its nuclear weapons complex. https://twitter.com/nktpnd/status/1279166832943992842
Addendum (since I didn’t explain this well, I think): If you’re North Korea, you’d want your warhead storage to be more hardened and physically close to missile units so you can minimize the amount of time needed to flush warheads to the missiles for use. https://twitter.com/nktpnd/status/1280958665986580481
