US intelligence says North Korea may have some uranium enrichment facilities

U.S. intelligence agencies believe North Korea may have some uranium enrichment facilities to advance its nuclear weapons program and may have received external assistance, America's spy chief said Thursday. Last November, North Korea showed U.S. visitors a facility at Yongbyon that it said enclosed 2,000 centrifuges confirming American suspicions the North has a second way of creation fissile material in count to its plutonium based program. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said in written testimony to the House Intelligence Committee there is a "clear prospect" that the North has built further uranium enrichment related facilities in its territory.

That would deepen concern about the extent of the North's nuclear program, which Clapper said posed a "serious threat" to safety in East Asia. He said the communist country has previously conducted two nuclear tests and tests of a ballistic missile that could reach portion of the United States. The United States has said since 2002 that the North has a uranium base program, which Pyongyang denied for years. Clapper said the scale of the capability at Yongbyon and the progress complete in construction showed North Korea had likely been pursuing enrichment "for an extensive period of time." He said to progress so far within the 20 months claimed by North would not be probable without previously conducting extensive research, testing and meeting, or without receiving "outside assistance."

Clapper did not elaborate on where that support would have come from, but he could be alluding to former Pakistani chief nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan, who ran a rogue trafficking network until 2003. Clapper recognized North Korea itself as a recognized proliferator which had exported of ballistic missiles and associated materials to some countries, including Iran and Syria. While he said North Korea has the capability to build nuclear weapons, it was not clear if they really had any and if they did, would likely only use them beside the U.S. if it was on the verge of military defeat.