SEOUL, June 4 (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited a newly operational nuclear material production facility and called for an "exponential" expansion of the country's atomic arsenal, state media KCNA said on Thursday.
Kim said production capacity for weapons-grade nuclear material had reached more than double its previous level over the past five years and instructed officials to further increase output to meet long-term strategic goals.
During the visit, Kim was briefed on new production processes incorporating more advanced technology and reviewed current output targets and future plans, KCNA reported.
Kim said the expansion was necessary given what he called worsening security threats and long-term confrontation with hostile forces, and reaffirmed the country’s policy of continuously increasing its nuclear deterrent.
KCNA said a key consultative meeting on bolstering nuclear forces was held the same day, at which Kim outlined guidelines for accelerating both the qualitative and quantitative expansion of North Korea’s nuclear arsenal.
Kim said the country had made “responsible and significant decisions,” including setting out the sequence and safeguards for executing what he described as a vast plan to strengthen nuclear forces “exponentially.”
North Korea had “set a transformative milestone for the advancement of nuclear capabilities,” he said.
(Reporting by Kyu-seok Shim; Editing by Chris Reese and Nia Williams)
