'Matter of time' before North Korea miniaturizes nuke: report
- Source: Global Times
- [02:04 December 21 2009]
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North Korea will eventually be able to make a nuclear warhead small enough to fit in a missile, Seoul's Yonhap News Agency reported Sunday.
The agency cited the state-run Korea Institute for Defense Analyses (KIDA) as saying that Pyongyang developing the technology to achieve miniaturization was inevitable.
"It is believed that North Korea has not completed the technology for the miniaturization ... of nuclear warheads," KIDA said in a report to be issued in January, according to the Yonhap report.
But KIDA said it is "just a matter of time," noting the North has a high-explosives test site and an estimated 3,000 nuclear scientists and researchers.
The North has 28 state organizations for nuclear development led by the powerful National Defense Commission and the government, the KIDA report added. It has conducted nuclear tests twice – in October, 2006, and in May this year.
KIDA officials were not immediately available for comment on the report.
Experts had said the North's continuous nuclear weapons development and missile capability make a dangerous combination, according to AFP.
The North has about 600 Scud missiles capable of hitting targets in South Korea, and possibly also of reaching Japanese territory.
There are another 200 Rodong-1 missiles which could reach Tokyo, AFP reported.
In addition, the North has three times test-launched long-range Taepodong missiles, most recently in April, with an advanced model which could theoretically hit Alaska and parts of the US west coast.
The North has test-fired 22 short-range missiles since May, KIDA said.
Pyongyang quit six-party nuclear disarmament talks in April, after the UN Security Council's censure of its long-range rocket launch.
AFP
