Kim Jong Un tours uranium enrichment site in rare photos of North Korea's nuclear program

Images of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un often allow the world a chance to peek inside his reclusive, nuclear-armed state.

And on Friday they went a step further: Having frequently shown off his weapons, Kim offered an unprecedented glimpse of what powers them.

Pyongyang released the first-ever images of a uranium-enrichment facility that produces fuel for its nuclear bombs, showing Kim Jong Un touring the facility as he called for his military to “exponentially” increase its nuclear arsenal to be ready for combat with the United States and its allies.

The pictures released by state media KCNA offer a rare glimpse into North Korea’s nuclear program, which has been shrouded in secrecy and is banned under multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions. 

The photos show Kim walking between rows of centrifuge instruments where uranium is spun at high speeds, a key step in the production of nuclear warheads.

Kim visited the Nuclear Weapons Institute and a production base for weapon-grade nuclear materials, KCNA said, where the North Korean leader said the number of centrifuges needs to be ramped up “in order to exponentially increase the number of nuclear weapons.”

“He went round the control room of the uranium enrichment base to learn about the overall operation of the production lines,” KCNA said, adding that Kim was satisfied seeing the base “dynamically producing nuclear materials.”

Kim also visited an army training base on Wednesday to “guide the drill of combatants,” KCNA said, alongside photos showing him cheering topless soldiers as they performed their combat exercises.

Experts say the photos suggest North Korea has dramatically advanced its nuclear capabilities since the last time it invited foreign scientists to view a centrifuge facility, at Yongbyon in 2010.

“North Korea wants to send a message that it can expand its nuclear arsenal dramatically, much faster than people thought,” said Lami Kim, a professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Honolulu. “Whether they can make nuclear warheads is already a big deal, but how many they can now make is also very significant,” Kim told NBC News.

The “purpose of releasing the pictures is to show their nuclear capabilities to North Korea’s adversaries,” Kim added.

At the facility, the North Korean leader praised scientists for their work in producing nuclear warheads, as he pushed for a new type of centrifuge to “further solidify the foundation for producing weapons-grade nuclear materials.”

He also blasted what he called anti-North Korea nuclear threats made by naval forces of the U.S. and its allies.

The North Korean leader has ramped up his war rhetoric in recent months, declaring U.S. and its treaty-ally South Korea as its prime enemy while his country conducted tests of its nuclear-capable attack drones and rocket launchers.

North Korea test fired multiple ballistic missiles on Thursday, KCNA said.

Officials in Seoul slammed Pyongyang for its nuclear developments.

"Any nuclear threat or provocation by North Korea will be met with an overwhelming and strong response from our government and military, based on the solid extended deterrence of the South Korea-US alliance,” the Ministry of Unification was quoted as saying by South Korea's Yonhap news agency.

While the exact number of nuclear warheads possessed by North Korea is widely disputed, it is believed to be in THE dozens. KCNA on Friday did not disclose where the production facility was located, when Kim visited it or how much uranium had been enriched.

On Monday, International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi said the United Nations nuclear watchdog had observed activity consistent with the operation of a light water reactor (LWR) and the operation of a centrifuge enrichment facility in Yongbyon. 

“The continuation and further development of the DPRK’s nuclear programme, including the ongoing commissioning of the LWR, is a clear violation of relevant UN Security Council resolutions and is deeply regrettable,” he said Monday in a statement.

In June, Grossi said a new annex was added to another nuclear complex in Kangson, which shared “infrastructure characteristics with the reported centrifuge enrichment facility at Yongbyon.”