North Korea’s nuclear facilities span the complete nuclear fuel cycle, with most of these facilities concentrated in Pun’gang-chigu, Yŏngbyŏn-kun, North P’yŏng’an Province. This area contains a number of research and development institutes, as well as education facilities to train the human resources to sustain North Korea’s nuclear program, for both civilian and military purposes. The Yŏngbyŏn nuclear complex also includes a small research reactor, a 5MW(e) gas-graphite moderated reactor, an unfinished 50MW(e) reactor, a fuel fabrication complex, a spent fuel reprocessing facility, and waste storage sites. There is also a 200MW(e) nuclear reactor under construction in T’aech’ŏn-kun, North P’yŏng’an Province, but work on it was frozen under the Agreed Framework of October 1994.
The General Department of Atomic Energy under the Cabinet has direct responsibility for the operation and management of facilities dedicated to the generation of electricity. Nominally, the Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) elects and removes cabinet officials, but the SPA Presidium is empowered to act on behalf of the SPA when it is not in session. Ultimately, the General Department of Atomic Energy is beholden to Kim Jong Il and a small number of officials who hold senior positions in the Korean Workers’ Party, the government, and the military. The Academy of Sciences manages most of the research institutions that could be described as “dual-use,” and the National Defense Commission has ultimate authority over military applications of nuclear technology and materials. The General Bureau of the Light-Water Reactor Project under the Cabinet is responsible for managing the light water reactor project under the Agreed Framework, but the future of that project is uncertain.
The Second Economic Committee (SEC) under the National Defense Commission is responsible for the production of all weapons in North Korea, and the SEC’s Fifth Machine Industry Bureau—also known as the “Fifth General Bureau”—is responsible for the production of nuclear weapons. Little is known about the budget-making process for the Second Economic Committee and its subordinate bureaus. However, a special fund is called the “Kim Il Sung fund,” the “presidential fund,” or the “Number 710 fund” is reportedly used to import materials and technologies for the nuclear program. Ultimate control of this fund is almost certainly exercised by Kim Jong Il and the National Defense Commission, but details are unknown.
The Second Natural Science Institute is responsible for all weapons research and development in North Korea, but it likely collaborates with the Academy of Sciences and the Second Economic Committee’s Fifth Machine Industry Bureau in the area of nuclear weapons research. The Second Natural Science Institute also conducts research and development for the ballistic missile program, and almost certainly is tasked with responsibility for the design of a nuclear warhead suitable for ballistic missiles in the current inventory and/or for those under development.
The Nuclear Chemical Defense Bureau (NCDB) under the General Staff Department in the Ministry of People's Armed Forces is responsible for managing the research and development of defensive measures against nuclear, chemical, and biological attacks. The NCDB now consists of seven departments and three research institutes, including the “55th Research Institute” or Nuclear and Atomic Defense Laboratory, which runs simulations and estimates damage and fallout from possible nuclear attacks. North Korean doctrine and operating procedures regarding the storage and use of nuclear weapons are unknown, but the National Defense Commission would have ultimate authority over nuclear weapons storage, deployment, and possible use.
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Updated June 2005 |
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