Special to WorldTribune.com

North Korea has resumed building new facilities and renovating old ones at its Yongbyon nuclear site, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

According to an April report by the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security, satellite images showed that activity at the site’s main nuclear reactor may have resumed after a shutdown.

“We have observed renovation and construction activities at various locations within the site,” IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano told a closed-door meeting of his agency’s Board of Governors in Vienna on Sept. 7. “These appear to be broadly consistent with the DPRK’s statements that it is further developing its nuclear capabilities.”

Pyongyang has since 2009 refused IAEA inspectors access to the Yongbyon site. North Korea is believed to have carried out nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013.

Last week, China, North Korea’s closest ally, called for a resumption of six-party talks over Pyongyang’s nuclear program. The talks between China, the United States, Japan, Russia and the two Koreas were last held more than six years ago despite numerous efforts to restart them.

The Institute for Science and International Security report said the main reactor at Yongbyon may be operating again at low power or intermittently, and that a centrifuge plant, a facility for the enrichment of uranium, had operated. It also said renovations might be imminent.

“We continue to monitor developments at the Yongbyon site, mainly through satellite imagery,” Amano said.

  IAEA reports new activity at Yongbyon nuclear site, Inernational Atomic Energy Agency, Institute for Science and International Security, Meanwhile in North Korea, WorldTribune.com, Yukiya Amano