North Korean leader Kim Jong Un provides guidance on a nuclear weapons program in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency on Sept. 3. © KCNA/Reuters
Nikkei Asian Review: Seoul believes Pyongyang has miniaturized ICBM nuke
South Korean defense chief made assessment after Sunday's powerful blast.
SEOUL -- The South Korean military now assumes that Pyongyang has successfully produced a nuclear warhead small enough to be loaded on an intercontinental ballistic missile.
Defense Minister Song Young-moo made that assessment during a committee hearing Monday at the National Assembly, according to Yonhap News Agency and other South Korean media outlets. He said the North Korean regime has apparently lowered the payload to below 500kg, a key threshold that allows for use of ICBMs.
Song also said Sunday's underground test of a nuclear device was the North's most powerful to date, with a yield of 50 kilotons. By carrying out its sixth test so far, Pyongyang is establishing facts on the ground proving it is a nuclear power, Song noted.
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WNU Editor: Here are some of the North Koreans who made this feat possible .... North Korea's nuclear scientists take center stage with H-bomb test (Reuters).
Update: There are still some skeptics on North Korea's nuclear capabilities .... North Korea nuclear test: Is Pyongyang telling the truth about its military capabilities? (Anthony Pearce, Yahoo News).
