Last week, we discussed President Trump’s assurance that North Korea would be “handled” and the mixed reaction that statement received. In the days since, with the key support of North Korean allies China and Russia, the UN passed new sanctions effectively reducing the country’s economic output by a third. It was a bold move but seems to have had little impact on Kim Jong-un and his government. The Washington Post broke a story on Tuesday that could explain why.
United States intelligence officials recently determined that, in addition to their developing weapons program, North Korea has successfully miniaturized a nuclear warhead that could fit inside many of its long-range missiles. The Japanese Ministry of Defense recently reached the same conclusion.
As the Post describes, that development was expected to take the regime years to attain. While North Korea still lacks the missiles necessary to deliver such a warhead to the mainland United States, much of the world is now theoretically within range, including many of America’s allies.
Despite the looming threat, some experts argue that an even larger mistake than underestimating North Korea’s nuclear capabilities would be to overestimate them, thereby unnecessarily increasing the stakes in the region. Others argue, however, that the fear of overestimating the danger posed by the regime have led us to, in the words of Jeffrey Lewis, insist “on impossible levels of proof” instead of reacting appropriately to what we do know.
Continue reading Denison Forum – North Korea has a deployable nuke
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