President Trump’s efforts to negotiate with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un now might have a new obstacle: a new up-and-running nuclear reactor. During the talks, Mr. Trump wants to convince Mr. Kim to completely give up his country’s plans to build any more nuclear weapons and give up the resources needed to produce more nuclear fuel; this objective is further complicated by evidence that North Korea is secretly expanding its production. The New York Times reports that a satellite image taken of the Yongbyon Nuclear Complex on February 25th shows emissions spewing from the smokestack of a new reactor, which suggests that the government has begun preliminary testing on the facility.

While Kim Jong-un and his constituents have claimed that the new reactor will only serve as a civilian power plant, it has the ability to produce plutonium, a powerful fuel essential to the production of nuclear weapons. North Korea could drag out the talks with the U.S. for a considerable amount of time, in which the facility can accumulate more bomb fuel and bring them closer to having a nuclear superweapon. Another risk is that Mr. Trump’s new security advisor, John Bolton, might use this new reactor as part of his argument for military action against North Korea, especially if the president’s negotiations with Mr. Kim fail. So much is at stake with these new revelations of the North’s nuclear program.