January 26, 2015
By Korea Herald
North Korea (click here) does not appear to have miniaturized nuclear warheads to fit on its ballistic missiles despite having advanced its technology to "a considerable level," Seoul's defense ministry said Thursday.
Officials and experts from South Korea and the United States have said the communist country is believed to have the technology to build nuclear-tipped missiles, though Pyongyang has yet to demonstrate the miniaturization capability.
"Despite its significant technology level, we don't think the North is capable of making such nuclear weapons," ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said at a regular press briefing....
It also explains a few things as to why North Korea carries out muscle flexing and wrestling with power struggles in national waters and islands.
Touching on an analysis by U.S. expert Joel Wit that Pyongyang is currently believed to have 10-16 nuclear weapons -- six to eight of them based on plutonium and four to eight based on weapons-grade uranium, Kim said it is "simply a presumption without any evidence."...
Evidnetly, sanctions haven't meant much.
Panama stopped a North Korean
ship in 2013 caught smuggling arms from Cuba and seized the cargo -
like this Soviet-era SS-4 medium range nuclear capable ballistic missile
- after a stand-off with the North Korean crew in which the captain
tried to slit his own throat.
February 26, 2015
UNITED NATIONS — A North Korean (click here) shipping company that famously tried to hide fighter jets under a cargo of sugar later sought to evade U.N. sanctions by renaming most of its vessels, a new report says.
The effort by Pyongyang-headquartered Ocean Maritime Management Company, Ltd. is detailed in the report by a panel of experts that monitors sanctions on North Korea. The report, obtained by The Associated Press, makes clear the challenge of keeping banned arms and luxury goods from a nuclear-armed country with a history of using front companies to duck detection.
The U.N. Security Council holds consultations Thursday on the report, which also says North Korea's government persists with its nuclear and missile programs in defiance of council resolutions.
North Korea's mission to the U.N. did not respond to a request for comment....
All the elaborate scenarios are fiction. They are estimations and nothing more. There is no solid proof of the North Korean nuclear capacity. All this is only possible if North Korea has a perfect world scenario.
February 25, 2015
By Shannon Tiezzi
A new research project (click here) warns that North Korea’s nuclear stockpile could grow from roughly 10-16 nuclear weapons at the end of 2014 to 100 by the year 2020.The North Korea Nuclear Futures Project, a joint collaboration between the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and National Defense University, aims to predict possible futures for North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs over the next five years...
...The project (click here) provided three scenarios for the growth of North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs over the next five years. Under the “minimal growth, minimal modernization” scenario – a best care scenario for concerned observers – North Korea conducts no further nuclear or missile tests and its technology progresses slowly. Even under this scenario, North Korea is expected to roughly double its stockpile of available nuclear weapons, from 10 to 20....
The IAEA has assessed the potential of a working nuclear reactor, not the capacity of missiles.
VIENNA – The U.N. nuclear watchdog (click here) said it has seen releases of steam and water indicating that North Korea may be operating a reactor, in the latest update on a plant that experts say could make plutonium for atomic bombs.
North Korea announced in April of last year that it would revive its aged 5-megawatt research reactor at the Yongbyon nuclear complex, saying it was seeking a deterrent capacity.
North Korea has no nukes. It has nuclear reactors that it is allowed to have on the non-proliferation treaty. This is from the Japan Times which has an interest in the truth about such capacity.
The isolated and poverty-stricken state defends its nuclear program as a “treasured sword” to counter what it sees as U.S.-led hostility....
By Korea Herald
North Korea (click here) does not appear to have miniaturized nuclear warheads to fit on its ballistic missiles despite having advanced its technology to "a considerable level," Seoul's defense ministry said Thursday.
Officials and experts from South Korea and the United States have said the communist country is believed to have the technology to build nuclear-tipped missiles, though Pyongyang has yet to demonstrate the miniaturization capability.
"Despite its significant technology level, we don't think the North is capable of making such nuclear weapons," ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said at a regular press briefing....
It also explains a few things as to why North Korea carries out muscle flexing and wrestling with power struggles in national waters and islands.
Touching on an analysis by U.S. expert Joel Wit that Pyongyang is currently believed to have 10-16 nuclear weapons -- six to eight of them based on plutonium and four to eight based on weapons-grade uranium, Kim said it is "simply a presumption without any evidence."...
Evidnetly, sanctions haven't meant much.
February 26, 2015
UNITED NATIONS — A North Korean (click here) shipping company that famously tried to hide fighter jets under a cargo of sugar later sought to evade U.N. sanctions by renaming most of its vessels, a new report says.
The effort by Pyongyang-headquartered Ocean Maritime Management Company, Ltd. is detailed in the report by a panel of experts that monitors sanctions on North Korea. The report, obtained by The Associated Press, makes clear the challenge of keeping banned arms and luxury goods from a nuclear-armed country with a history of using front companies to duck detection.
The U.N. Security Council holds consultations Thursday on the report, which also says North Korea's government persists with its nuclear and missile programs in defiance of council resolutions.
North Korea's mission to the U.N. did not respond to a request for comment....
All the elaborate scenarios are fiction. They are estimations and nothing more. There is no solid proof of the North Korean nuclear capacity. All this is only possible if North Korea has a perfect world scenario.
February 25, 2015
By Shannon Tiezzi
A new research project (click here) warns that North Korea’s nuclear stockpile could grow from roughly 10-16 nuclear weapons at the end of 2014 to 100 by the year 2020.The North Korea Nuclear Futures Project, a joint collaboration between the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and National Defense University, aims to predict possible futures for North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs over the next five years...
...The project (click here) provided three scenarios for the growth of North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs over the next five years. Under the “minimal growth, minimal modernization” scenario – a best care scenario for concerned observers – North Korea conducts no further nuclear or missile tests and its technology progresses slowly. Even under this scenario, North Korea is expected to roughly double its stockpile of available nuclear weapons, from 10 to 20....
The IAEA has assessed the potential of a working nuclear reactor, not the capacity of missiles.
VIENNA – The U.N. nuclear watchdog (click here) said it has seen releases of steam and water indicating that North Korea may be operating a reactor, in the latest update on a plant that experts say could make plutonium for atomic bombs.
North Korea announced in April of last year that it would revive its aged 5-megawatt research reactor at the Yongbyon nuclear complex, saying it was seeking a deterrent capacity.
North Korea has no nukes. It has nuclear reactors that it is allowed to have on the non-proliferation treaty. This is from the Japan Times which has an interest in the truth about such capacity.
The isolated and poverty-stricken state defends its nuclear program as a “treasured sword” to counter what it sees as U.S.-led hostility....
