While Pyongyang has talked of success in mastering miniaturization before, this is the first time Kim has so explicitly claimed a breakthrough that experts see as a game-changing step for the North's nuclear capabilities.
"The nuclear warheads have been standardized to be fit for ballistic missiles by miniaturizing them," Kim noted during a meeting with nuclear technicians, the North's official KCNA news agency said.
"This can be called a true nuclear deterrent," he added.
His comments came a day after the North's powerful National Defense Commission threatened pre-emptive nuclear attacks on South Korea and the US mainland, as Seoul and Washington kicked off large-scale joint military exercises.
Kim echoed the threat, warning that North Korea would "never hesitate to make a pre-emptive nuclear strike" in the event of any effort by the US and its allies to undermine its national sovereignty as a nuclear state.
Military tensions have surged on the divided Korean peninsula since the North conducted its fourth nuclear test in January and a long-range rocket launch last month.
The UN Security Council responded by imposing tough new sanction last week, which Pyongyang has condemned and labelled as part of a US-led conspiracy to bring down Kim's regime by force.
"The stronger our nuclear strike capability gets, the more powerful our deterrent to aggression and nuclear war grows," Kim said.
Experts have been divided on just how far North Korea may have gone in its ability to miniaturize nuclear warheads, although several top US military officials have briefed on its likely success.
The issue is key as, while North Korea is known to have a small stockpile of nuclear weapons, its ability to deliver them accurately to a chosen target has been in doubt.
Kim's confirmation still leaves a question mark over the North's ballistic missile capabilities, with many experts believing it is years from developing a working inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) that could strike the continental United States.
(AFP)
i24news.tv
9/3/16
GR
FR
DE
ES
IT
RU
EU
Kim Jong-un affirme que la Corée du Nord a réussi à miniaturiser des têtes thermonucléaires...
ReplyDeleteLe régime nord-coréen est parvenu à miniaturiser des charges nucléaires qui peuvent désormais armer des missiles balistiques, a assuré mardi le dirigeant Kim Jong-un.
La Corée du Nord s’est vantée mercredi, par la voix de son dirigeant Kim Jong-un, d’avoir réussi à miniaturiser des têtes thermonucléaires à même d’être montées sur des missiles balistiques, près de deux mois après l’annonce de son quatrième essai nucléaire, mené le 6 janvier.
"On peut appeler cela une vraie dissuasion nucléaire", a déclaré le dictateur nord-coréen, lors d'une réunion avec des experts nucléaires, selon des propos rapportés par l'agence de presse officielle KCNA. Et d’ajouter : "Plus notre force de frappe nucléaire augmente, plus notre capacité à dissuader une agression et une guerre nucléaire se renforce".
Pyongyang avait déjà annoncé à plusieurs reprises être parvenu à miniaturiser des charges nucléaires, mais Kim Jong-un ne l'avait jamais fait lui-même. Le régime, l'un des plus repressif au monde, avait indiqué que son dernier essai nucléaire était un test de bombe à hydrogène, bien plus puissante que la bombe atomique ordinaire....france24.com