North Korea has begun operations at a new nuclear plant that could increase production of uranium-enriched fuel used for nuclear weapons manufacturing, a South Korean newspaper said on Wednesday.

Construction on Pyongyang's new facility has been completed and is now operational, according to daily broadsheet Joongang Ilbo, citing a South Korean official in charge of intelligence in the peninsula.

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Images taken with infrared heat sensing cameras used by U.S. intelligence agencies detected active centrifuges inside the facility, the official said.

He emphasized that additional monitoring was needed to determine whether the facility had actually begun the manufacture of weapons-grade materials.

Once all of North Korea's 4,000 centrifuges operate year-round, an estimated enriched-uranium capacity of 80 kilograms (176 pounds) can be produced annually, a nuclear engineer of a state-owned institute noted.

That capacity can produce four to five nuclear weapons, the official warned.

The new facility sits beside an industrial-scale uranium plant operating some 2,000 centrifuges, which was toured by a team of U.S. nuclear analysts in 2010. It is located inside the Yongbyon compound, which houses North Korea's sole plutonium-producing nuclear reactor.

The new nuclear plant is about the same size as the one beside it, leading officials to believe both facilities have more or less similar centrifuge capacities.

South Korea's foreign ministry could not be reached for comment while the defense ministry declined to give one, citing "matters of intelligence".

The plant, if indeed operational, signifies the North's defiance against international pressure to denuclearization despite several UN sanctions imposed on it.

Nuclear experts say Pyongyang has made significant advances toward the development of an atomic bomb, with already three test detonations of nuclear weapons under its belt. However, most believe the country is aiming to work on miniaturizing a nuclear warhead small enough to be mounted on a delivery system.

The U.S. military commander stationed in South Korea said he believes Pyongyang has the means to build a nuclear warhead that can be mounted on a ballistic missile despite the lack of test or evidence that suggests otherwise. 

TagsNorth Korea, NoKor nuclear program, nuclear plant, weapons fuel production, UN sanctions