North Korea has resumed normal operations at the Yongbyon complex, the country’s main nuclear facility. North Korea appears to be intensifying nuclear and ballistic missile development efforts that could lead to further international sanctions against the Kim Jong Un regime. North Korea’s state controlled media KCNA said that the country’s main nuclear complex in Yongbyon was in full operation. The reactor was shut down in 2007. However following North Korea’s third nuclear test in 2013, Pyongyang said it would restart the facility.

North Korea mothballed the Yongbyon reactor in 2007 under a six-nation aid-for-disarmament accord, but began renovating it after its last nuclear test in 2013. When fully operational, the reactor is capable of producing around six kilos of plutonium a year – enough for one nuclear bomb.

North Korea has said its satellite launches are peaceful and meant for weather observation, but the West considers them covers for banned tests of long-range missiles. After several failures, North Korea put its first satellite into space with a long-range rocket launched in late 2012.