South Korea says the North has 4 uranium enrichment facilities to build nuclear weapons

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A top South Korean official said Thursday that North Korea is operating a total of four uranium enrichment facilities , adding to outside assessments that it has multiple covert atomic plants along with the widely known site near the capital of Pyongyang.

The North’s leader Kim Jong Un has called for a rapid expansion of his country’s nuclear weapons program and recently said he would never make the arms a negotiating point in response to overtures by U.S. President Donald Trump.

The South’s Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said uranium enrichment centrifuges at the four facilities — which would include the known site at Yongbyon, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Pyongyang — are running everyday and stressed the urgency to stop the North’s nuclear p