North Korea has 'probably' developed nuclear devices to fit ballistic missiles - U.N. report

By Michelle Nichols

 

FILE PHOTO: Intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) are driven past the stand with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and other high ranking officials during a military parade marking the 105th birth anniversary of country's founding father Kim Il Sung, in Pyongyang April 15, 2017. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj

 

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - North Korea is pressing on with its nuclear weapons program and several countries believe it has "probably developed miniaturized nuclear devices to fit into the warheads of its ballistic missiles," according to a confidential U.N. report.

 

The report by an independent panel of experts monitoring U.N. sanctions said the countries, which it did not identify, believed North Korea's past six nuclear tests had likely helped it develop miniaturized nuclear devices. Pyongyang has not conducted a nuclear test since September 2017.

 

The interim report, seen by Reuters, was submitted to the 15-member U.N. Security Council North Korea sanctions committee on Monday.

 

"The Democratic People's Republic of Korea is continuing its nuclear program, including the production of highly enriched uranium and construction of an experimental light water reactor. A Member State assessed that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is continuing production of nuclear weapons," the report said.

 

North Korea is formally known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). North Korea's mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the U.N. report.

 

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said last week there would be no more war as the country's nuclear weapons guarantee its safety and future despite unabated outside pressure and military threats.

 

The U.N. report said one country, which it did not identify, assessed that North Korea "may seek to further develop miniaturisation in order to allow incorporation of technological improvements such as penetration aid packages or, potentially, to develop multiple warhead systems."

 

'LUCRATIVE' CYBERATTACKS

North Korea has been subjected to U.N. sanctions since 2006 over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. While the Security Council has steadily strengthened sanctions in a bid to cut off funding for those programs.

 

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump have met three times since 2018, but failed to make progress on U.S. calls for Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons and North Korea's demands for an end to sanctions.

 

In May 2018 North Korea followed through on a pledge to blow up tunnels at its main nuclear test site, Punggye-ri, which Pyongyang said was proof of its commitment to end nuclear testing. But they did not allow experts to witness the dismantlement of the site.

 

The U.N. report said that as only tunnel entrances were known to have been destroyed and there is no indication of a comprehensive demolition, one country had assessed that North Korea could rebuild and reinstall within three months the infrastructure needed to support a nuclear test.

 

The U.N. experts said North Korea is violating sanctions, including "through illicit maritime exports of coal, though it suspended these temporarily between late January and early March 2020" due to the coronavirus pandemic.

 

Last year the U.N. experts said North Korea has generated an estimated $2 billion using widespread and sophisticated cyberattacks to steal from banks and cryptocurrency exchanges.

 

"The Panel continues to assess that virtual asset service providers and virtual assets will continue to remain lucrative targets for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to generate revenue, as well as mining cryptocurrencies," the latest report said.

 

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Sandra Maler and Tom Brown)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-08-04

 

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Oh dear does this mean the bromance is over donald must be despondent.......that his stupid ploy dident work did he really think Kim would be such a pushover what a blunder

well that Trump thingy went well   !     NOT

Many countries have nuclear weapons. So does the US. Unfortunately. 

Always been a firm believer that if you left the hornets nest alone, your chances of being stung are low. Watch out for that sting otherwise.

Edited August 4, 20205 yr by 4MyEgo

1 minute ago, welovesundaysatspace said:

Many countries have nuclear weapons. So does the US. Unfortunately. 

Quite. And look what happened to Cambodia when they 'missed' their target of Vietnam. Hope they are more accurate if it starts with North Korea. I've just checked the map and think we are safer in Bangkok than up in the north of Thailand.

...but...but...the Noble Price - Trumpster in spe said, they would not....

6 minutes ago, The Barmbeker said:

...but...but...the Noble Price - Trumpster in spe said, they would not....

I think he is dead.NK

 And yet still, Diplomacy prevailed ,no wars and no death! 

The countries not mentioned in that panel of experts opinions,"probably" should be applauding the efforts of the status quo!  

 

 

 

Edited August 4, 20205 yr by riclag

Kim Jong Bomb here goes Guam again ????

44 minutes ago, riclag said:

 And yet still, Diplomacy prevailed ,no wars and no death! 

The countries not mentioned in that panel of experts opinions,"probably" should be applauding the efforts of the status quo!  

Can you please explain your post.

Edited August 4, 20205 yr by stevenl

unattributed speculative post removed

56 minutes ago, riclag said:

 And yet still, Diplomacy prevailed ,no wars and no death! 

The countries not mentioned in that panel of experts opinions,"probably" should be applauding the efforts of the status quo!  

 

 

 

I would think Russia / China had more influence of restraining any thoughts of aggression by N.K. than the US.

2 hours ago, riclag said:

 And yet still, Diplomacy prevailed ,no wars and no death! 

The countries not mentioned in that panel of experts opinions,"probably" should be applauding the efforts of the status quo!  

 

 

 

Well then credit for no wars and no death should also go to Ike, JFK, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, Bush II and Obama, as all served as POTUS while the DPRK was developing its nuke and missile programs.

 

As for death, however, there is Otto Wambier.

 

All of what I posted in an earlier piece, which is only a portion of what I know, is available in highly credible open sources such as Janes, Missile Threat CSIS, various US Defense Dept publications, and it also came from comments from experts such as Christopher Hill, Joe DeTrani (former chief of the Six Party Talks and head of Intelligence & National Security Alliance think-tank) and officials from the Govt of South Korea.

 

The DPRK's missile and nuclear program is highly advanced and most of the critical advances have come in the last 3 years. The DPRK has also developed an extremely sophisticated and deadly chemical weapon program, just a bit of it was used when Kim Jong-un's older brother was assassinated with VX. So sophisticated is their program that the DPRK weapons team knew that VX is particularly deadly to anyone who takes Viagra. Obviously the unwitting assassins---two women---did not take that drug, while Kim's brother did. This info is also available in open source material.

5 hours ago, welovesundaysatspace said:

Many countries have nuclear weapons. So does the US. Unfortunately. 

All others will not use it.

3 minutes ago, puipuitom said:

All others will not use it.

Then they could destroy it. Which they don’t. And trusting countries like the US, Russia, or Israel? Then I could as well trust North Korea. 

4 minutes ago, welovesundaysatspace said:

Then they could destroy it. Which they don’t. And trusting countries like the US, Russia, or Israel? Then I could as well trust North Korea. 

Kim Jong un could fire a Nuke whenever he liked and no one there to stop him, other Countries have safe guards and procedures  in place to stop any one person firing nukes on a whim

This from a country barely able to understand how a stable electricity supply works and not exactly famed for its technological genius.

 

Reminiscent of all the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq that never were.

Edited August 4, 20205 yr by mrfill

7 minutes ago, CorpusChristie said:

Kim Jong un could fire a Nuke whenever he liked and no one there to stop him, other Countries have safe guards and procedures  in place to stop any one person firing nukes on a whim

Really? Who could fire the US’ nukes, for example? 

11 minutes ago, CorpusChristie said:

Kim Jong un could fire a Nuke whenever he liked and no one there to stop him, other Countries have safe guards and procedures  in place to stop any one person firing nukes on a whim

That rather depends on whether he is still alive - is he?

5 minutes ago, welovesundaysatspace said:

Really? Who could fire the US’ nukes, for example? 

I did a websearch for you 

 

https://www.wagingpeace.org/protocol-u-s-nuclear-strike/

The report seems to be a lot of unnamed sources giving probablys and maybes and nothing definitive 

23 minutes ago, CorpusChristie said:

I did a websearch for you 

 

https://www.wagingpeace.org/protocol-u-s-nuclear-strike/

1. Blair, Bruce (June 11, 2016). "What Exactly Would It Mean to Have Trump's Finger on the Nuclear Button?". Politico Magazine. Retrieved 2019-06-30.
2. Broad, William J.; Sanger, David E. (August 4, 2016). "Debate Over Trump's Fitness Raises Issue of Checks on Nuclear Power". The New York Times. p. A1. Retrieved October 2, 2016.
3. Burns, Robert (2017-11-13). "Could anyone stop Trump from launching nukes? The answer: No". Associated Press. Retrieved 2019-06-30.
4. Stanton, Zack (2017-11-14). "Don't Count on the Cabinet to Stop a Trump-Ordered Nuclear Strike". Politico Magazine. Retrieved 2019-06-30.
5. William Perry [@SecDef19] (6 September 2018). "This is the correct answer" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
6. William Perry [@SecDef19] (5 September 2018). "Correct" (Tweet) – via Twitter.

Just now, welovesundaysatspace said:

1. Blair, Bruce (June 11, 2016). "What Exactly Would It Mean to Have Trump's Finger on the Nuclear Button?". Politico Magazine. Retrieved 2019-06-30.
2. Broad, William J.; Sanger, David E. (August 4, 2016). "Debate Over Trump's Fitness Raises Issue of Checks on Nuclear Power". The New York Times. p. A1. Retrieved October 2, 2016.
3. Burns, Robert (2017-11-13). "Could anyone stop Trump from launching nukes? The answer: No". Associated Press. Retrieved 2019-06-30.
4. Stanton, Zack (2017-11-14). "Don't Count on the Cabinet to Stop a Trump-Ordered Nuclear Strike". Politico Magazine. Retrieved 2019-06-30.
5. William Perry [@SecDef19] (6 September 2018). "This is the correct answer" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
6. William Perry [@SecDef19] (5 September 2018). "Correct" (Tweet) – via Twitter.

Shall we keep on topic ?

Just now, CorpusChristie said:

Shall we keep on topic ?

The topic of our discussion was who has the authority to fire a country’s nuclear weapons. There you have it for the case of the US. So your argument that other countries have “checks and balances” is refuted. In both cases, US and North Korea, you have the nuclear arsenal in the hands of a dictator. Except the North Korean at least has a bit more brain than the US one. 

1 minute ago, welovesundaysatspace said:

The topic of our discussion was who has the authority to fire a country’s nuclear weapons. There you have it for the case of the US. So your argument that other countries have “checks and balances” is refuted. In both cases, US and North Korea, you have the nuclear arsenal in the hands of a dictator. Except the North Korean at least has a bit more brain than the US one. 

You need to read the thread title .

You are trying to turn this thread into yet another Trump bashing thread 

10 minutes ago, CorpusChristie said:

You need to read the thread title .

You are trying to turn this thread into yet another Trump bashing thread 

1. The thread title says North Korea has nukes.

2. So I said: So what? Others have to.
3. To which you responded: But the situation is different. Which is not the case, as I’ve showed you. 

44 minutes ago, CorpusChristie said:

The report seems to be a lot of unnamed sources giving probablys and maybes and nothing definitive 

Maybe Trump can ask his friend in a letter to confirm.

16 minutes ago, CorpusChristie said:

You need to read the thread title .

You are trying to turn this thread into yet another Trump bashing thread 

With his personal involvement in NK it is unavoidable his efforts get mentioned.