The Heart of North Korea's Nuclear Program 'Yeongbyeon' Also Affected by COVID-19... "Quarantine for North Korean Overseas Business Travelers"

Recent Movements at Yongbyon Nuclear Facility Draw Attention

On the 18th, Oh Chun-bok, North Korea's Minister of Health, stated in an interview with Korean Central Television that there are no confirmed or suspected cases of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) within the country.

As North Korea intensifies its battle against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), the country's external propaganda media has drawn attention by announcing strengthened quarantine measures at 'Yeongbyeon,' known as the heart of North Korea's nuclear program.

On this day, 'Meari' stated, "In Yeongbyeon County, North Pyongan Province, control measures over personnel returning from overseas trips have been reinforced, and they have been quarantined under medical supervision."

Meari reported, "As the novel coronavirus infection continues to spread rapidly worldwide and the damage increases day by day, Yeongbyeon County in North Pyongan Province is intensifying operations and command to establish more thorough quarantine measures."

The media outlet particularly emphasized, "Strict control measures are being implemented for personnel returning from trips to other countries and regions, quarantining them under medical supervision, while sufficiently providing medical equipment along with food, firewood, supplementary materials, and bedding according to demand."

It also conveyed, "Together with health workers in the area, residents in people's units and households are being encouraged to properly perform saltwater gargling and garlic extract gargling, maintain ventilation indoors, and manage individual hygiene well."

Furthermore, "The military hygiene and quarantine office is regularly supplying hypochlorous acid (a disinfectant) to health institutions, service units, and places where many people gather, raising the demand for thorough disinfection," it added.

Yeongbyeon is one of the two officially recognized nuclear facilities in North Korea (Yeongbyeon and Punggye-ri), housing the country's largest nuclear complex equipped with a 5-megawatt electric (MWe) reactor, plutonium reprocessing facilities necessary for nuclear weapons development, and uranium enrichment facilities.

Recently, unexplained activities have also been detected at Yeongbyeon.

On the 14th (local time), 38 North, a U.S.-based North Korea specialist media outlet, reported that movements of special tracked vehicles were observed at the Yeongbyeon nuclear facility complex. However, it assessed that it is unlikely these vehicles were used to transport radioactive materials.

Analyzing commercial satellite images taken on the 10th and 11th of this month, 38 North found four tracked vehicles carrying four to five cylinders inside the Yeongbyeon nuclear facility, which appeared to be transporting non-radioactive materials.

The basis for judging that the special tracked vehicles were not moving radioactive materials is that the location where the vehicles were parked is unrelated to the production of radioactive materials, and no signs of activity were detected in the radiochemical laboratory. 38 North also added that there is no evidence that the uranium enrichment plant is currently operational.