April 6, 2013
As Kim Jong-un continues to ramp up the tough guy rhetoric and brandishes a gun for the cameras, American scientists assess North Korea's capabilities to see if the dictator could actually fire a nuclear warhead at its neighbors
April 6, 2013
As Kim Jong-un continues to ramp up the tough guy rhetoric and brandishes a gun for the cameras, American scientists assess North Korea's capabilities to see if the dictator could actually fire a nuclear warhead at its neighbors
North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un holds up a pistol as he supervises pistol and automatic file firing drills at the second battalion under North Korea People's Army (KPA).
WASHINGTON — North Korea is probably years away from perfecting the technology to back up its bold threats of a pre-emptive strike on America. But some nuclear experts say it might have the know-how to fire a nuclear-tipped missile at South Korea and Japan.
David Albright at the Institute for Science and International Security assesses that the North could put a nuclear warhead on an 800-mile-range missile. But scientist Siegfried Hecker who has had unusual access there, says it is unlikely and nobody outside of a small elite would know.
The bottom line is that no one can say with certainty how much technological progress North Korea has made. Even if it has the capability, it's unlikely Pyongyang (pyuhng-yahng) would use it because the retaliation would be devastating.
Courtesy: AP
