N Korea's nuke miniaturisation 'limited'

[webfact]

'N. Korea's nuke miniaturisation limited'
Shin Hyon-hee
The Korea Herald

SEOUL: -- North Korea is not yet likely to have miniaturised nuclear warheads to mount on ballistic missiles, though it appears to have been developing related technology to a “considerable” degree, Seoul’s Defence Ministry said Thursday.

“They have technology of a considerable level but it is unlikely they are capable of miniaturising nuclear warheads. In other words, they have not mastered the weaponisation process,” ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said at a regular news briefing.

His remarks run counter to an analysis by Joel Wit, a researcher at the US-Korea Institute of Johns Hopkins University, that the country is believed to have built up to 16 atomic devices ― six to eight of them based on plutonium and four to eight on highly enriched uranium.

Wit, who previously oversaw North Korea affairs at the US State Department, also argued that Pyongyang seems to have acquired the technology to make bombs small enough to fit on its medium-range Rodong missiles, which are capable of striking South Korea and Japan, and on the intercontinental Taepodong-2 missiles.

“Would you be able to make nuclear weapons without succeeding in miniaturising them?” Kim said.

Full story: http://www.asianewsnet.net/news-72189.html


-- ANN 2015-02-27