On Wednesday, North Korea repeated a claim that it is able to make small nuclear weapons, further stoking concerns that it has mastered the technology to put them on long-range ballistic missiles that could potentially threaten the U.S.
Pyongyang is a veteran manipulator of media to further its strategic goals, so there’s also plenty of skepticism about the new statement. For evidence of North Korea’s bending of reality to drum up fears about its military prowess, look no further than a building consensus that it doctored pictures of an alleged recent missile test from a submarine.
North Korea Photoshopped Images of Submarine Missile Launch: Experts |
So should the latest North Korean statement be considered another head-fake? The answer, like many questions about North Korea, depends on who you ask.
Here’s what North Korea actually said, in a statement attributed to its National Defense Commission: “It is long since the DPRK’s nuclear striking means have entered the stage of producing smaller nukes and diversifying them.” (DPRK refers to North Korea’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.)
The mention of a “long” period of time likely references at least the years since its February 2013 nuclear bomb test. Following that detonation, the latest of three tests, North Korean state media frequently referred to the device used as a “smaller and lighter” bomb. Most outsiders assumed that meant Pyongyang was claiming it had a weapon that could potentially be mounted on a missile.Read the rest of the story HERE.
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