North Korea Could Have Improved Nuclear Capability

USPA News - North Korea appears to have achieved a "significant" level of technology to miniaturize a nuclear device that could fit on the tip of a missile, South Korea`s defense ministry said Tuesday. Pyongyang could have obtained some 40 kilograms of weapons-grade plutonium by reprocessing spent nuclear fuel rods and may be working on a highly enriched uranium program.

The North is believed to have the capacity to develop missiles that could reach the mainland of the United States and has conducted a series of long-range missile tests. The range of one of its missiles could have increased from 7,000 kilometers to 10,000. North Korea declared in 2009 that it had developed a nuclear weapon, and probably possesses a small stockpile of relatively simple nuclear weapons. North Korea may also have a chemical and/or biological weapons capability. Since 2003, North Korea is no longer a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.