[Courtesy of Terra Production]
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has issued an explicit order for the launch of more rockets capable of carrying nuclear warheads, state media said Tuesday, defying tough UN sanctions imposed against the isolated country.
Many experts have expressed doubts about North Korea's ability to miniaturise a nuclear warhead to be mounted on an intercontinental ballistic missile, but Kim said his country has acquired related technology.
"A nuclear warhead explosion test and the test launch of ballistic rockets capable of carrying nuclear warheads will be carried out in a short time to enhance the reliance of our nuclear attack capability," Kim said during an inspection of an environmental simulation for re-entry technology, according to Pyongyang's official KCNA news agency.
[Courtesy of Terra Production]
The simulation was successful, proving that there has been a significant breakthrough in developing an effective ballistic missile capability, KCNA said.
Kim called for further tests to improve North Korea's nuclear missile capability, saying North Korea has "proudly" acquired re-entry technology. South Korean intelligence officials have said Pyongyang may be making preparations for another nuclear test.
[Courtesy of Terra Production]
Despite widespread doubts about its ability to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of reaching as far as the US mainland, Pyongyang has insisted that it has entered the technological phase to miniaturize and even diversify its nuclear bombs.
It is impossible to verify North Korea's claim of success in developing a warhead capable of surviving the heat and shocks of re-entry into the earth’s atmosphere, but South Korea's defense ministry has repeatedly said there's no evidence that Pyongyang has mastered the required technology.
"It's our judgement that North Korea has not yet acquired re-entry technology," Defense Ministry spokesman Moon Sang-gyun told reporters, discounting North Korea's claim as "unilateral".
Washington and its allies have condemned North Korea's long-range rocket launch as a cover for developing an intercontinental ballistic missile.
Last week North Korea's state media showed Kim standing in front of a metal globe that North Korea described as a nuclear bomb.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
