A new nuclear arsenal?

last updated 8 January 2015

Youngdoktong, North Korea

The CIA has warned that North Korea is developing nuclear warheads small enough to mount on existing missiles, The New York Times reported. Such warheads would extend the country’s nuclear reach beyond South Korea, endangering Japan and American troops stationed there. The new intelligence comes from satellite photos of a nuclear testing site known as Youngdoktong. The report suggests that North Korea may be able to put mini-nukes on their long-range missiles in less than a year. The Bush administration is using the new intelligence to convince Asian nations that the North Korean threat is so dire it requires a unified international intervention. But some of these Asian officials are skeptical, pointing to unproven U.S. claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.