27 Sept 2008

NKorea may already have nuclear warheads

North Korea has likely mastered the technology for arming its missiles with nuclear warheads, a former US intelligence official said Friday.

"The fact that they have a warhead that's fitable to the Rodong (ballistic missile) is pretty much given," said Arthur Brown, who until 2005 was National Intelligence Officer for East Asia at the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

"We (the United States) went from nothing to missile capable in seven years. The Russians went from their first test to missile capable in six... Why do we think the North Koreans can't have that kind of technology?"

What was unclear was how much uranium and, or, plutonium North Korea possessed and how much they need for each of their weapons, he told a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan.

Spacewar.com and Wikipedia