North Korea ready to use new, smaller nuclear warheads ‘anytime and anywhere’, threatens Kim Jong-un
- Images released by state media on Tuesday showing Kim standing with military officials among his arsenal of warheads are ‘worrisome’, experts say
- North Korea is estimated to have about 80 to 90 warheads, and is thought to be looking at owning between 100 to 300 over the long term
Kim made the comments while visiting a facility producing nuclear bombs, the official Korean Central News Agency reported on Tuesday. State media released images of Kim standing with military officials among his arsenal of warheads.
Kim reiterated his call to exponentially increase North Korea’s nuclear arsenal, which “is aimed to defend the eternal security of the state and the regional peace and stability from A to Z”. The visit to the facility came as Kim called for scaling up the production of weapons-grade nuclear material to expand the country’s arsenal.
“This is a significant size improvement over prior North Korean nuclear weapons, and possibly design advance,” George William Herbert, an adjunct professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, said on Twitter about the warheads shown in the photographs.
North Korea is estimated to have about 80 to 90 warheads, the Seoul-based Korea Institute for Defence Analyses said in a paper released in January, adding Kim was looking to have between 100 to 300 over the long term.