Images of North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear facility suggest that the country may have restarted its plutonium production reactor - largely regarded by western officials as a necessary piece of machinery for creating nuclear weapons.
American research groups studied some images taken by satellite on August 31 that depicted curls of steam rising from the building where the reactor's electric generators and steam turbines are believed to be held, according to CNN.
In a blog post for 38 North, a program at the U.S.-Korea Institute at School of Advanced International Studies, authors wrote that rising smoke most likely indicates the reactor is moving.
"The white coloration and volume are consistent with steam being vented because the electrical generating system is about to come online, indicating that the reactor is in or nearing operation," said the Washington-based institute.
This past spring and summer, the government started ramping up work to reopen the reactor.
"This is something they [North Koreans] very much need to arm their arsenal, and that is really linked into what they see as marketing power on the international plane," founder of Asia-Pacific Global Research Group Jasper Kim, said. "Without this type of nuclear capability, or at least the perception of the threat of having nuclear capabilities, North Korea really has few bargaining chips."
U.N. nuclear watchdog The International Atomic Energy Agency told Reuters that they did not yet have a "clear understanding" of what exactly was going on.
"These reports, I believe, are unconfirmed. What I can't do is comment on intelligence matters...If it turns out these reports are true...it would be a very serious matter," Glyn Davies, Special Representative for North Korea Policy Glyn Davies said. "It would violate a series of U.N. Security Council resolutions."
But for one U.S. official who talked to Reuters anonymously, there's no doubt the North Koreans started the reactor up again.
"[North Korea] wants to create a fait accompli and be accepted as a [nuclear] power and nuclear weapons state," the official said.
