N. Korea arsenal may grow

Seoul officials report four uranium facilities, adding to a broader nuclear program.

- BY HYUNG-JIN KIM

Associated Press

NORTH KOREAN leader Kim Jong Un, center, is seen at what is said to be a nuclear material facility.

A top South Korean official said Thursday that North Korea is operating a total of four uranium enrichment facilities, adding to outside assessments that it has multiple covert atomic plants along with the widely known site near the capital of Pyongyang.

The North's leader, Kim Jong Un, has called for a rapid expansion of his country's nuclear weapons program and recently said he would never make the arms a negotiating point in response to overtures by President Trump.

The South's Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said uranium enrichment centrifuges at the four facilities which would include the known site at Yongbyon, about 60 miles north of Pyongyang are running every day and stressed the urgency to stop the North's nuclear program.

Chung did not elaborate on the location of the other, undeclared nuclear sites. He spoke about the North with local reporters, according to his ministry.

A nuclear stockpile